SUNRISE, Fla. — When the Florida Panthers decided not to sell at the trade deadline Friday, they pointed to the players missing from their lineup as a reason why they believed it was the right move.
For at least one game, the Panthers’ decision seemed somewhat justified. Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov both returned to the lineup after multi-game injury absences Saturday and sparked Florida to a badly needed 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a battle of wild-card contenders.
Bennett scored in the first period to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead, Barkov handed out a pair of assists and Florida never trailed to make up some ground in its postseason push with an impressive victory in Sunrise.
The Panthers were doubling up the Penguins in shots deep into the second period and only conceded once, when Pittsburgh had a 5-on-3. In 5-on-5 action, Florida outshot the Penguins, 27-22, and had a 25-14 advantage in scoring chances.
The Panthers (31-27-6) now sit three points back of Pittsburgh (31-22-9) for the second and final wild card with 18 games left in the regular season. It’s still a steep climb for Florida, but more doable after bouncing back from an ugly loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday in the opener of a seven-game homestand.
Bennett scored the first goal with just 21.6 seconds left in the first period, rushing down the ice for a 2-on-1 with Carter Verhaeghe and following up the left wing’s shot for a rebound goal. A few minutes into the second period, forward Nick Cousins drew a penalty and star defenseman Aaron Ekblad scored a power-play goal off a pinpoint, cross-ice pass from Barkov.
Bennett hadn’t played since Valentine’s Day because of a lower-body injury. Barkov had missed almost two weeks because of an apparent hand injury. Together, the two centers combined to help put Florida up 2-0 in the first 24:11 and Barkov set up another goal with 10 seconds left in the second period when his shot from the top of the right faceoff circle created an easy rebound for forward Eetu Luostarinen to finish.
The Panthers went into the third period up 3-1, with the Penguins’ only goal coming on a 5-on-3, and Verhaeghe pushed the lead to 4-1 with 10:07 remaining. Star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky otherwise stopped every shot he faced, finishing with 31 saves and he even jumped into a scrum late in the third period, going after Jason Zucker after the Pittsburgh left wing crashed into him and knocked off his helmet.
The final 10 minutes were filled with scraps and chippy play, much to the delight of the crowd at FLA Live Arena, which even got to see left wing Ryan Lomberg and Penguins winger Josh Archibald each assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties. With only a handful of games remaining, Florida showed some fight — quite literally — and won a game with some playoff-style intensity.
As encouraging as it was, the win ultimately won’t mean anything unless the Panthers can build on it and they haven’t been able to lately. Since putting together its first three-game winning streak of the season last month, Florida has alternated wins and losses for its last 10 games, halting its push for the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
With five more in a row at home and their lineup finally back at full strength, the Panthers’ run must start now. A win this weekend won’t mean much unless they can also beat the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
