3 Takeaways: Panthers loss vs Flyers – 10/27/22

Welcome to Full Press Hockey’s Takeaway series on the Florida Panthers. After each Panthers game of the 2022-23 season, our Florida Panthers beat writer, Alex Slemp, will recap the game and give you his three biggest takeaways from the matchup. Today we will have a look at the Florida Panthers’ loss vs the Philadelphia Flyers. You can follow more of his work on the Florida Panthers here, and also tune into his podcast where he talks the latest on all things Florida Panthers.

At the start of the season, when we looked at the Florida Panthers’ schedule, this two-game road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers looked like a sure four points.

The Panthers dominated the two games, as expected, but limp back home with zero out of four points collected. 

Panthers Complete Road Trip with loss vs Flyers

Much like the game against the Hawks a couple of nights ago, the Cats controlled the majority of this game. 

They landed 51 shots on net but Flyers goalie, Carter Hart, was more than up to the task. The young netminder made a career-high 48 saves in this one, including some crucial ones in the final few minutes.

It’s a frustrating loss for the south Florida team, who looked to do most everything right, but still landed in the loss column. 

That’s just the way the NHL goes sometimes.

Let’s have a quick look at the three main takeaways from last night’s loss.

Power play finally breaks through

One of the biggest topics of discussion around this team has been its lackluster power play. 

A team that sports snipers in Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart, it’s been a conundrum this season as to why the power play has continued to be held scoreless.

But tonight the top unit got the monkey off their back. 

After failing to score on their first two opportunities, the Panthers finally converted on their third power play of the night.

Sam Reinhart threw the puck out front from the lower right side of the net and a pinching Brandon Montour sneaked down on the left side to shovel home the puck past Hart.

It was a bit of a broken play but sometimes that’s what you need to get that confidence back.

The power play, which went one-for-four on the night, was generating plenty more chances tonight than it did against the Hawks.

There was more of an emphasis on having two guys down low and creating traffic in front of the net. 

Paul Maurice had stated that in the playoffs those pretty plays are hard to come by and most times you have to get those greasy, garbage-type goals. 

Well, sometimes in the regular season that’s how you have to get it done as well. It was a solid adjustment and may be the one that gets this power play rolling.

Defense leads the offense

As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. Well, the Panthers’ defense double-downed on that statement by being the ones to generate that offense.

All three goals scored by the Cats came from defensemen. Josh Mahura scored his second of the year, Montour had the power play tally, and Gustav Forsling was the one who opened the scoring just over three minutes into this one.

Despite the back-to-back losses, this defensive group has really stepped up in the absence of Aaron Ekblad.

Forsling has embraced his role as a top-pairing defenceman and leads all defencemen on the team with six points. 

Montour has certainly come into his own offensively this year. Picking up where he left off at the back half of last season, Montour continues to cruise and push the pace from the backend and has two goals and five points to show for it.

Mahura is also making the most of his newfound opportunity with the Panthers. After being scooped up off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks last season, the smooth-skating defencemen has settled in nicely on the second pairing with Radko Gudas.

And it hasn’t been all offense either. The defensive group has done an excellent job limiting scoring chances from the opposition. 

The Panthers have kept their opponents to 26 shots on goal or less in the last three games.

Where they are getting sunk though, is on their penalty kill. The Cats are currently ranked 24th in the league on the PK and have surrendered a power play goal six times in their last four games.

This is an area that they need to tighten up as a team if they want to be considered a Stanley Cup threat come springtime.

Around Full Press Hockey

---

NHL: Preseason Takeaways: New-Look Jets Have Much to Prove

NHL Rumors: NHL Rumors: Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils

NHL: NHL Training Camp Preview: Can Sharks, Blues Return To Cup Contender Status?

NFL: Best Bets For 2022 NFL Defensive Rookie Of The Year

Full Press Bets: Early 2022 NFL MVP Odds: Bills’ Josh Allen Favored

PODCAST: Full Press Hockey Weekly Ep 38: NHL Season Preview: Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Johnny Gaudreau

---

Line shakeup creates chances but does nothing to change the outcome

In an effort to get stars Barkov and Reinhart going, Maurice decided to shake up his top two forward lines. Coach elected to move Tkachuk to the top line on the right side and moved Reinhart down to the second line on the left side.

Unfortunately, both Barkov and Reinhart finished with zero goals, again.

But they did generate plenty of chances. But you must be getting tired of hearing that. It seems every game they create a lot of chances but still, we see the same outcome.

It is discouraging but eventually, something has to give way. But the Panthers really need these two to get going. The Panthers sit at .500 on the year and they easily could have two more wins, had even just one of the many chances Barkov and Reinhart have had gone in.

After the loss, the Panthers were on a flight back home and back on the ice for practice Friday afternoon. 

We saw more line rushes with this look and more time spent working on the power play. The players looked like a well-oiled machine going through their drills. 

Now it’s just a matter of putting it all together for a full 60 minutes.

Up next

The Panther will get the opportunity to put it all to the test again this evening as they take on the Ottawa Senators.

This will be Colin White’s first game against the team that originally drafted him and then bought him out. 

White is off to a brilliant start to this campaign with two goals and five assists and seems to be playing with a chip on his shoulder to start the year. 

We can expect plenty of motivation from the former first-round pick in this match against his former club.

This will also be the first match of the season pitting the two Tkachuk brothers against one another.

Puck drop is Saturday at 4:00 pm EST