The Florida Panthers picked up an important two points on Monday night when they hosted the Vancouver Canucks in Sunrise.
Despite falling behind 2-0, Florida eventually stormed all the way back before blowing their own three-goal lead, eventually skating to an exhausting 8-5 win at Amerant Bank Arena.
For the Cats, it was a victory that came on a night where they were already playing a bit shorthanded.
In addition to the long-term losses the team is trying to manage, they were also without one of their most productive wingers on Monday and then during the game, one of Florida’s centermen went down with an injury.
As we’ve learned over the past several seasons, a little adversity isn’t going to stop the Panthers from trying to do what they do.
Let’s get to Monday’s takeaways:
PROGRESSIVELY IMPROVED
It was a strange night for the Panthers on Monday.
While they did well to suppress much of what Vancouver was trying to do offensively, there were some leaky moments that cost the Cats dearly.
As has been the case many times in the past, once they got back to a physical, predictable game, things started to move in the right direction for Florida.
“We got better as the game went on,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “We thought we were late on a lot of our forechecking pressure in our last game, and I thought that was our strength tonight.”
BIG SETH HEATING UP
It’s been a steady season for Panthers defenseman Seth Jones, but a quiet one, too.
He logged six assists over his first 15 games but has seen his offensively production take a major uptick lately.
Over his past four games, Jones has registered three goals and two assists.
All five of those points have come on the power play, too.
“Confidence is such a big part of what we do, and I think he's been looking for it,” said Maurice. “He's had a whole bunch of good chances that just haven't gone for him, he's either missed the net or didn't get the shot where he wanted it, but now it's starting to go for him.”
FOURTH LINE WINGS STEP UP
Florida center Cole Schwindt left Monday’s game late in the first period after an awkward collision with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and did not return.
This came on a night where the Panthers were already down one of their regular forwards, with winger Eetu Luostarinen ruled out with a lower-body injury earlier in the day.
The injury to Schwindt caused Maurice to somewhat shorten his bench, meaning the shifts for fourth line wingers Noah Gregor and Luke Kunin were suddenly more difficult to come by.
That didn’t stop the gritty forwards from making the absolute best with their limited ice time.
Gregor had the primary assist on a goal by Kunin early in the second period, and they combined for three shots and a plus-three on-ice rating.
“Those two guys, you can't look at the minutes to decide how important they were to the game when Cole (Schwindt) went down,” Maurice said. “Sometimes you get a quiet night, you got to run your top three lines hard, just get them all into the game, and so both Noah Gregor and (Luke) Kunin had an important role in our game tonight. They didn't play as many minutes as they earned or they deserved, they deserve to play more based on the quality of their game, but that's a great example of making an impact and having an impact regardless of the number of minutes you play.”
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Photo caption: Apr 28, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones (3) shoots the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period in game four of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Rich Storry-Imagn Images)