CBS4's Steve Goldstein on Panthers' west coast trip
MIAMI - The Panthers' road-heavy schedule continues with a trip to Arizona and an extended stay in California for three games.
They bring their red-hot top line out west, looking to keep picking up points against teams they should beat but there are no easy games as the Panthers found out last week.
Barkov-Tkachuk Combo
Now that the two superstars are playing on the same line it's been a nightmare for opposing defenses. Add in the talent and speed of Carter Verhaeghe and the Panthers have one of the league's hottest lines. They dominated Ottawa's last game scoring 4 of the team's 5 goals in the home win. Tkachuk has tied a franchise record with 13 points in his first 9 games as a Panther. Pavel Bure and Sam Bennett also reached that mark.
Montour Emerges
Don't look now but with Aaron Ekblad out of the lineup. The good news is he will be back soon, 28-year-old Brandon Montour is playing like a number one defenseman. The last 3 games he has been all over the ice, getting points in each game, the game-winning goal against Ottawa and playing an outrageous 28 minutes per game. Coach Paul Maurice calls him a "brilliant skater."
Long term, Ekbald's absence should pay some dividends as Gustav Forsling, Radko Gudas and Montour have played more and been excellent as a group. Add in waiver wire pickup Josh Mahura playing in the top 4 the Panthers have found out more about their defense and those players have more confidence.
Get Special
The power play has scored the last two games ending a long drought. Even without Ekblad and some new faces the man advantage, for the most part, has gotten enough chances and pucks to the net to deduct it wil be fine long term.
There is also a new mandate...shoot first. Maurice doesn't want the low-percentage fancy plays that he feels don't work in the playoffs. The plan is to get the puck, move it quickly and get the attack rate high.
The penalty kill has allowed goals in six straight games and was a part of last week's two road losses. It is early in the season and there are new players and coaches but the PK must take a big step forward moving forward.
Road Tripping
The Panthers are in a stretch of 6 of 7 games on the road.
Remarkably, after this week-long trip nearly a quarter of the road games will be in the rearview mirror. They started with two wins but have lost 3 straight since. With 3 of the 4 games out west being against nonplayoff, rebuilding teams the Panthers need to pick up the majority of the 8 available points.
The November schedule gets much tougher when they return home next week starting with always-tough Carolina and South Florida visits from guys like Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, and Jonathan Huberdeau to name a few.