Three Takeaways: Panthers win vs Sharks – 11/03/22

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’ win vs the San Jose Sharks. 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.

The Florida Panthers escaped with a 4-3 win via the shootout last night vs the lowly San Jose Sharks.

Panthers Score Shootout win vs Sharks

The Florida Panthers sure gave their fans a scare late last night with their shootout win over the Sharks.

After being in control for the first two periods, the Panthers collapsed in the third. Allowing three straight goals by San Jose in a 10-minute span before tying it late.

Carter Verhaeghe helped save face for the Panthers after scoring from an impossible angle with the extra attacker out in the dying minutes of the third period.

His snipe over the shoulder of James Reimer tied the game and helped send it to overtime where both teams traded glorious chances.

Sergei Bobrovsky and Reimer were both dialed in during the extra frame and into the shootout.

Both goalies were perfect through three rounds before Paul Maurice sent out struggling winger, Sam Reinhart.

Reinhart waltzed in and cleanly snapped one over the glove of Reimer to give the Cats a crucial 4-3 victory.

The Panthers have now split their first two games of this west coast road trip. 

Let’s have a look at the three biggest takeaways from the Panthers’ win vs the Sharks.

Third Period Collapse

It sure is a good thing the Panthers skated away with a win here. Had they blown their two-goal lead and started this road trip 0-2, there’d be big questions coming this team’s way.

The Panthers had been in complete control of the game up until the third. They opened the game with 19 shots on net and had outshot the Sharks 33-22 by the end of the second.

With the score 2-0 going into the final 20, all the Panthers had to do was keep their foot on the gas and close it out.

But the Sharks were just getting ready to feast.

Coming into this game, the Sharks had only scored four goals in the third period all season. 

They almost matched that number in this game alone. 

San Jose took advantage of a long 5-3 power play to get the ball rolling and in the course of 10 minutes, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson, and Matt Benning gave the home team Sharks the lead.

It was uncharacteristic of the Panthers to get so outplayed late in the game. They have done a fine job under Paul Maurice and the strong two-way system he implements.

But the silver lining here was seeing the Panthers’ character and ability to battle back and come out with a win.

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Reinhart Finally Scores

It won’t count on the stat sheet but it will count toward the standings and for his confidence.

Sam Reinhart has been held scoreless all season. And despite his coach making adjustments for him all season to get him going, nothing has seemed to work.

But Maurice knows a handcuffed player when he sees one. Reinharts’ inability to score was chalked up to bad puck luck after generating a plethora of chances to start the year.

More recently, however, it looked to be low confidence taking over.

But what better way to get a guy going than to put him in a shootout? There he will have all the time and space to make his play and show his trigger still works.

Maurice’s decision to use Reinhart in a “score and win” scenario shows that Coach hasn’t lost confidence in his winger. 

And that type of move from behind the bench is the exact kind of veteran leadership Bill Zito wanted and expected from Maurice when he brought him in.

Getting the monkey off Rienharts’ back via the shootout could go a long way in restoring the former second-overall picks’ confidence.

First Pass Not Good Enough

Something that has been a bit of a trend as of late has been sloppy passes by the Panthers.

Coming into the game against the Arizona Coyotes, a key factor for Florida was having an emphasis on making accurate passes out of the zone.

So far we haven’t seen the Panthers run up the score this season. Something they did easily last season. And their last two games have been against teams where they should’ve been able to do that.

The Cats scored one goal against the Coyotes but last night the Dallas Stars, who are similarly built to the Panthers, put up seven on them.

The biggest difference? Accurate passes out of the zone led to a more efficient, flowing offense.

The Panthers inaccurate passing led to 16 giveaways against the Sharks last night. 

Too many passes were behind players or in their skates. And that is going to inhibit that free-flowing offense of the Panthers when they’re rushing up the ice.

Those inaccurate passes are making it difficult for the Panthers. With how quickly opponents take away space in the NHL, you can’t afford to give up time digging pucks out of your skates or off the wall.

Up Next

The Florida Panthers’ road trip continues with a stop in Los Angeles to play the Kings.

It’ll be the third game of their four-game road trip. 

The Panthers have split the first two games but will look to make it consecutive wins for the first time since the start of their season.

Puck drops Saturday, November 5 at 10:30 pm EST.