Special teams shine during weekend win
If Sunday afternoon’s preseason game in Tampa Bay is any indication, the Florida Panthers penalty kill unit will be just fine this season.
The Panthers killed off all eight penalties during their 4-2 win over the Lightning, including six in the first period alone. Last year, Florida was one of the NHL’s best penalty-kill units at 85.3 percent. Only Boston (85.7 percent) was better than the Panthers.
Defenseman Ed Wittchow led all Panthers by playing 6:51 on the penalty kill, while defenseman Josh Brown (5:25), center Derek MacKenzie (5:20) and winger Harry Zolnierczyk (4:48) also saw significant time shorthanded. MacKenzie was one of the Panthers’ key penalty killers last season and should anchor the unit again this season.
Just 1:13 into the game, Florida had to kill a 5-on-3 after Harry Zolnierczyk was whistled for a faceoff violation and Ian McCoshen was called for slashing. The Lightning didn’t register a shot on goal during the twoman advantage.
“I think that the 5-on-3 was a little bit of a turning point for us,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “After we killed that, you could see our bench rose a little bit. We had a bunch of situations where our kill had to step up and they did. Once your kill’s on and you give your team a chance, your power play’s got to take advantage.”
Tampa Bay only had two shots on goal during its 10 minutes on the power play in the first period.
“We flew on the plane today, so we just wanted to get the legs in it,” Panthers goaltender James Reimer joked. “Thought we’d take a couple penalties and work on the PK.”
Florida also scored a power play goal of its own, when Radim Vrbata walked in and roofed a wrist shot at 4:34 in the third period. Vrbata was one of Florida’s biggest offseason acquisitions after he scored 20 goals for Arizona last year.
Tip in for McGinn
Jamie McGinn — acquired last week from Arizona for defenseman Jason Demers — scored a goal on a first-period tip-in assisted by Ian McCoshen and Nick Bjugstad. McGinn’s arrival was due in-part to his propensity
for scoring dirty goals in front of the crease.
“I thought he was really solid, I really did,” Boughner said. “He contributed obviously with a goal but you could tell his net presence. It’s one of the things that we needed. He definitely provides that.”
The Panthers trimmed their training-camp roster to 32 players on Monday afternoon. Forwards Chase Balisy, Dryden Hunt, Juho Lammikko, defenseman Michael Downing and goaltender Sam Montembeault were assigned to AHL affiliate Springfield.