The best save in the Florida Panthers’ 3-2, overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday — and maybe the best save of the entire 2021-22 NHL season — came through sheer desperation from a bottom-pairing defenseman.
Lucas Carlsson saw the Hurricanes had an empty net to shoot at and he sprung into action. With Sergei Bobrovsky dragged out of position after a save, Carlsson dove in front of the goal and started flailing his stick wildly. He blocked the initial shot with the shaft of his stick, then batted away a second effort with a blind swing toward the ceiling of PNC Arena.
“I had no idea what was going on,” the 24-year-old Swede admitted. “I was just laying there and waving my stick, so I guess it was lucky.”
In hockey games like the one the Panthers (33-10-5) played in North Carolina, a little bit of luck is usually necessary. The Hurricanes entered Wednesday with the league’s stingiest defense, and they imposed their will on Florida for most of 60 minutes, forcing the Panthers to win a low-scoring game in Raleigh. Carlsson’s save kept Carolina’s lead at 1-0 and gave Florida a chance to come back, force overtime and eventually win its first game of the second half the season.
The Panthers, who lead the NHL in shots on goal and goals per game, proved it can win a defensive struggle, too. With Stanley Cup aspirations, they know more are waiting.
“It was kind of a playoff-type tight-checking game,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said Wednesday. “Nobody was giving an inch and I thought our guys rose to the challenge.”
At the All-Star break, Florida had the most points in the Eastern Conference and the best points percentage. By the time their two-week break ended Wednesday, the Panthers were leading the NHL in goals per game and creating more 5-on-5 high-danger chances per 60 minutes than anyone.
The one nit Brunette had to pick with his team was the defensive lapses Florida is prone to. Almost all year, the Panthers have ranked in the bottom half of the league in high-danger chances allowed, giving up 12.2 per 60 minutes, which has led to a middle-of-the-pack scoring defense.
The Hurricanes provided an immediate test, and the Panthers aced it, holding Carolina to 10 high-danger chances despite facing four power plays — they held the Hurricanes to only seven in 5-on-5 action — and picked up only their second win since Thanksgiving when they scored two goals or fewer in regulation.
Even though Carlsson dubbed his save a “lucky” play, Carolina’s two goals came off fortunate breaks, too — the first on a no-angle shot after star defenseman Aaron Ekblad broke his stick and the second when a slap shot bounced off defenseman Gustav Forsling to deflect past Bobrovsky. Florida overcame it to win by scoring in the final minute of regulation, then again 16 seconds into overtime.
“It was a grinding game,” Brunette said, “and we were very ready to grind.”
Although the Minnesota Wild is even closer to a mirror image of the Panthers with a top-five offense and middle-of-the-pack defense, Florida’s showdown with the Wild at 8 p.m. on Friday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, could easily devolve into another defensive struggle because meetings between the best teams in the league often do.
Of the 10 highest-scoring teams in the league, the Panthers and Wild (30-12-3) are two of only three who don’t also rank in the top 15 in scoring defense. As the only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game, Florida has been able to win in spite of a pedestrian defense, but why settle for mediocrity when there’s time to become as well-rounded as other cup contenders like the Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins?
“We like to score goals and we’ve got a lot of skill and talent, but it’s nice to see when we play good defensive sound games that we can come up with those wins,” defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said, “but playoffs is still a little bit far away right now. We’re focused on the task at hand and that’s Minnesota.”
