In last two months, Panthers have turned power play from a weakness into a strength
Brandon Montour has the perfect view of the Panthers’ power-play success.
The 29-year-old defenseman runs Florida’s top unit that has all sorts of firepower.
There’s Sam Reinhart at the net front, Matthew Tkachuk at the goal line, Carter Verhaeghe on the flank and Aleksander Barkov up top with him.
“We’ve got strengths all over it,” Montour said.
And those strengths are turning into goals after an extended stretch of struggles to begin the season.
Florida scored three power-play goals in its 9-2 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and has now scored at least one power-play goal in each of its past 10 games. That is tied for the franchise record with a stretch from Nov. 1-21, 2018.
During those 10 games, which started on Jan. 22, the Panthers have scored 15 power-play goals in 33 attempts with the man advantage — a 45.5 percent success rate that is second only to the Toronto Maple Leafs (47.8 percent) in that timeframe.
But Florida’s success has gone beyond that.
Since Dec. 23, a 23game stretch in which Florida has gone 18-3-2 entering Tuesday’s home game against the Ottawa Senators, Florida’s power play is succeeding at an NHL-leading 36.6 percent rate.
In the 32 games before this run, Florida’s power play scored on just 18 percent of its opportunities, which was 23rd in the NHL.
Reinhart is at the heart of Florida’s success, scoring a franchise-record 22 power-play goals so far this season — matching the totals of two teams (the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres) and two more than the
Chicago Blackhawks.
But it’s not just Reinhart.
Verhaeghe has eight power-play goals this season. Sam Bennett, who is on the second unit, has five.
Tkachuk has four in addition to 21 power-play assists.
“As long as we’re making fast-paced plays and we’re playing quick enough to play aggressive as five,” Montour said, “you can see we’re dangerous.”
TKACHUK HONORED
The NHL on Monday announced that Tkachuk was the league’s Third Star of the Week.
The star winger logged eight points (three goals, five assists) during Florida’s three road wins against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Lightning on Saturday.
Since Jan. 1, Tkachuk leads the NHL with 37 points and is tied for third with 15 goals and 22 assists.
EKBLAD EXPECTED BACK TUESDAY
After missing Florida’s win against Tampa Bay on Saturday with a lowerbody injury, defenseman Aaron Ekblad is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday when the Panthers host the Senators.
Since making his season debut on Nov. 17 after missing the start to the season while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, Ekblad has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) over 37 games.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
Boston Florida Toronto Tampa Bay Detroit Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Metropolitan
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia New Jersey N.Y. Islanders Washington Pittsburgh Columbus
Dallas Colorado Winnipeg St. Louis Nashville Minnesota Arizona Chicago Pacific
Vancouver Vegas Edmonton Los Angeles Seattle Calgary Anaheim San Jose
56 33 12 11 77 189 150 55 36 15 4 76 185 135 54 30 16 8 68 197 170 56 30 21 5 65 193 189 54 28 20 6 62 190 176 55 24 27 4 52 161 170 55 22 25 8 52 157 198 51 22 27 2 46 172 184 GP W L OT Pts GF GA
55 36 16 3 54 32 17 5 56 29 20 7 54 28 22 4 54 22 18 14 53 24 21 8 52 24 21 7 53 17 26 10
75 185 156 69 181 155 65 167 165 60 183 185 58 160 183 56 131 167 55 151 139 44 157 197
56 34 14 8 76 211 171 56 34 18 4 72 209 181 52 33 14 5 71 156 119 55 29 24 2 60 162 172 55 28 25 2 58 167 179 55 26 23 6 58 174 183 54 23 27 4 50 157 172 55 15 37 3 33 115 193 GP W LOT Pts GF GA
57 37 14 6 54 31 17 6 51 32 18 1 53 27 16 10 54 23 21 10 55 25 25 5 55 20 33 2 54 15 34 5
80 212 156 68 173 149 65 181 147 64 165 145 56 149 155 55 166 174 42 143 193 35 116 207
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
TUESDAY
Ottawa at Florida, 7
Dallas at N.Y. Rangers, 7
N.Y. Islanders at Pittsburgh, 7 New Jersey at Washington, 7 Minnesota at Winnipeg, 8 Vancouver at Colorado, 9
Nashville at Vegas, 10
Columbus at Los Angeles, 10:30
MONDAY
Anaheim 4, Buffalo 3
Toronto 4, St. Louis 2
Boston 4, Dallas 3, SO
Minnesota 10, Vancouver 7 Detroit at Seattle
Edmonton at Arizona
Vegas at San Jose
Winnipeg at Calgary
Chicago at Carolina
Ottawa at Tampa Bay
SUNDAY
NY Rangers 6, NY Islanders 5 (OT) Colorado 4, Arizona 3
Los Angeles 2, Pittsburgh 1