Subscribe
Follow Us
The Florida Panthers pulled off an epic run last year to win the first Stanley Cup in team history. While that triumph was joyous for head coach Paul Maurice and his players, it has put the spotlight and the pressure clearly on the Panthers for the 2024-25 season.
The Panthers have responded quite well in the first quarter of the year. They are in first place in the Atlantic Division with an 11-5-1 record through their first 17 games, and they have a narrow lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It would not be a surprise if those two teams battle for the division title throughout the season.
Panthers are loaded with talent … and grit
The Panthers are a clearly a very talented team with stars like Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk leading the way. However, teams like the Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Maple Leafs may have as much or more natural talent as the Panthers.
The thing that sets Paul Maurice's team apart is the toughness and feistiness shown on an every-game basis. Tkachuk is the leader in that area as he loves to engage in physical play and will not hesitate to cross the line, because it will give his team an edge and help the Panthers win.
Reinhart is leading the team in scoring and he has gotten off to a notable start with 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points. Reinhart's ability to make key plays in the offensive zone is something that Maurice knows he can count on. He has the ability to create space with his skating ability and then unleash a hard and accurate shot. He also will get the job done when he gets near the net.
Reinhart has gotten tremendous support from Bennett and Barkov, and the Panthers know that if they are down by a goal going into the third period or the late stages of the game, the key players will produce.
Center Anton Lundell has surprised on the Panthers third line
Maurice knows that his stars have proven themselves as dependable players who are going to help the Panthers when the game is on the line. But during the Stanley Cup run, it was not just the team's stars. Players like Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell played huge roles in the team's postseason success against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers.
Lundell has continued his growth throughout the early part of the season. Lundell has Jesper Boqvist on right wing and Eetu Luosterinen on the left side. Having a strong third line is often the key to winning division titles and then getting the job done in the playoffs.
Nearly every competitive team has solid production from their top two lines, but when the third line produces, it often makes a huge difference.
Lundell has scored 6 goals and 8 assists for 14 points and he has a pair of power play goals and 2 more power play assists. He is connecting on 14.3 percent of his shots, and that's a good indication that he can find the corners of the net when he fires the puck.
Lundell is a good player who has proven himself with the Panthers, but he is taking it up a notch or more this year and that's a pleasant surprise for Maurice and the Panthers
Carter Verhaeghe is off to a disappointing start for Panthers
Throughout the Panthers rise to prominence in the NHL, no player on the team has done more in the clutch than Carter Verhaeghe.
When the Panthers made the playoffs in 2022-23 as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, it was Verhaeghe who scored the series-winning goal in overtime of the seventh game against the record-setting Boston Bruins. Every player in the NHL has had dreams of scoring the winning goal in overtime of the seventh game, but Verhaeghe had the nerve and skill to fire a clutch shot past Jeremy Swayman and break the hearts of the Bruins.
That victory gave the Panthers the confidence that ultimately led to last year's Stanley Cup triumph. They made it all the way to the Finals in 2023 before falling short against the Golden Knights, but the Panthers picked up from where they left off last year and refused to be stopped at any point.
While Verhaeghe has been a goal scorer and a clutch player throughout his career, he is off to a halting start with the Panthers.
Verhaeghe has only found the back of the net 4 times this season season and while he has also added 8 assists, he has a minus-9 rating. Perhaps some of that is due to bad shooting luck, but he has not performed at his usual level. Verhaeghe has taken a team-high 65 shots on goals, but he is connecting on just 6.2 percent of them.
That's simply not good enough and he will have to do better if the Panthers are going to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.
