Picking up a big road win isn’t as easy these days as it has been in recent seasons.
On Saturday, the Florida Panthers had to dig deep to pick up two points against the Ottawa Senators and begin making up some essential ground in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.
As it stands, Florida is currently three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, with a game in hand, for the second Wild Card spot in the East, but the Cats are still seven points back of the Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic Division, also with a game in hand, and nine points behind first-place Detroit with two games in hand, for what it’s worth.
The Panthers are expected to get healthier in the coming days, with both Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk expected to join the team’s forward ranks at some point on their current road trip, which continues on Monday in Buffalo before ending with a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday against Carolina and Washington.
Let’s get to Saturday’s takeaways:
BIG GAME FROM BOBROVSKY
Sergei Bobrovsky gave up two goals on 19 shot against the Senators, which on the surface is nothing to write home about.
His first goal was a shot from the corner that appeared to deflect off his extended blocker and back behind him, and the second goal was a great deflection by Drake Batherson from the doorstep that Bob had no chance on.
In between the tallies, Bobrovsky was downright brilliant.
He made several eye-popping stops to keep the Cats in the game as they erased their early deficit and ultimately scored three straight goals to take control of the contest.
It’s quite impressive how he can keep each goal and each save, every play he makes, completely individual of one another. Nothing that happened during the first period is going to impact him the rest of the game. It’s a testament to his incredibly strong mental fortitude.
“We played really, really hard, and if it didn't go our way, it didn't end our night,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Like the first goal, Sergei is not going to like that one, but you’ve just seen him do that so many times, if he if a bad one goes in on him early, he just somehow raises his level.”
SPECIAL TEAMS WAS SPECIAL
It makes sense that for Florida to earn a crucial two points on Saturday, they had to come up with an exceptional effort on special teams.
That’s exactly what they did, going a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and popping in a pair of power play goals on four opportunities.
The goals were certainly timely, taking the Cats from down by one to up by one, and the penalty kills were critical, coming at key points of the game that allowed Florida to build the momentum that ultimately carried them to victory.
“Probably over the last three years, the best part of our game has been our penalty kill,” Maurice said. “And it does start with those three big defensemen we have back there (Gus Forsling, Aaron Ekblad and Niko Mikkola), they were just outstanding. (Anton) Lundell, (Sam) Reinhart and (Eetu) Luostarinen are just natural penalty killers that are also elite offensive players, so we live and die by it, but they were great.
“A good night and a fast night,” Maurice continued, this time talking about the power play. “I thought we didn't look like a bunch of guys that had played together, and they were fast, so credit to (assistant coach) Jamie Kompon with those guys, because it can get frustrating. We’ve got four of the five guys that would be on our power play aren't our lineup, so you got a whole bunch of new guys, and there's not a lot of time spent together, because we don't practice with our schedule, but good on them. They were fast tonight and won us the game.”
STRONG DEBUT FOR VILMANIS
Saturday was a big night for 21-year-old Sandis Vilmanis.
Florida’s fifth round selection from the 2022 NHL Draft played his first National League game, and he showed out quite well from a coaching standpoint.
While he didn’t register on the scoresheet, Vilmanis still played 14 solid shifts, racking up 11:48 of ice time, all at even strength, logging a shot attempt and a takeaway in his NHL debut.
“I thought for his first game in the National Hockey League, Sandis Vilmanis held on to some pucks and showed some poise,” said Maurice. “He earned some fans in the coach's room because I thought he played hard, but he didn't play not to make a mistake, he just played the game. So really happy for him.”
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Photo caption: Jan 10, 2026; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Florida Panthers left wing Sandis Vilmanis (95) chases the puck in the first period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. (Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images)