The wins are starting to come again for the Florida Panthers.
After a rough stretch in which the Cats dropped five straight games but had been playing some decent hockey, Florida has been able to string a couple wins together since returning to Sunrise.
On Thursday, the Panthers took down the Detroit Red Wings 4-1, moving back within one point of Tampa Bay and four points behind first place Toronto.
It was the second straight game where Florida left the ice feeling like they had earned a win and actually picked up the two points.
Now the test will be to see if they can keep it going over the final games of the regular season and carry some momentum into the playoffs.
We know how well that worked out for them last year.
Let’s get to Thursday’s takeaways:
MARCHAND FINDS BACK OF NET
It took eight games, but Brad Marchand has scored his first goal as a member of the Panthers.
He’d been used on a few different lines while acclimating himself to Florida’s systems, now skating with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
They’ve now put together a solid stretch of hockey and are finding the back of the net.
We’ve seen several players flourish on the Lundell-Luostarinen line (Sam Reinhart comes to mind) so it’s not terribly surprising to see Marchand hitting his stride with the fun Finns.
“It was good coming off the last game, because the line scored and you think there’s something there,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “You like the players to have the belief in it, too, and they had a bunch of chances and some really good zone time, but guys who produce big points need to put numbers up to feel good, for them to feel like they’re contributing, so I like that belief in the line, and I like the way they played.”
CLIPPING THE WINGS
Florida knew they were going to face a desperate Red Wings squad.
Detroit came into Thursday’s game with no margin for error.
At this point, they basically needed to win every one of their remaining games and hope for a lot of help in order to make the playoffs.
Despite allowing the Wings to score first, Florida controlled much of the play and never felt like they were chasing the game.
It certainly looks like the Cats are rounding themselves into postseason form.
“They did have some zone time – a long shift in the second period, Sergei (Bobrovsky) made a bunch of saves – but there wasn’t the danger off the rush, and that’s where that team is hard,” said Maurice. “(We were) smart enough to stay out the penalty box, because their power play is elite., I like the kill-and-a-half that we had.”
A ROOKIE’S PROGRESSION
Mackie Samoskevich scored his 15th goal of the season on Thursday while skating on Florida’s top line with Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart.
The rookie has seen his game grow by leaps and bounds since the start of the season, in far more ways than just on the scoresheet.
Despite being one of the smaller guys on the ice, listed at 5-foot-11, 180 lbs., Samoskevich has shown a propensity for throwing his body around and used his speed to enhance his physical prowess.
Based off the skills and progress he’s shown this year, it would appear the sky is the limit for the young sniper.
“It’s highly unusual for a young man to cover the distance that he’s covered, because he was still physical in the game and hard where he needed to be,” said Maurice. He’s played now with every single line and in every section, so good for him and to his credit, because you don’t see young guys come in and learn the hard things and be willing to do the hard things as quickly as he has.”
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