FORT LAUDERDALE – Win or lose, it’s always must-see television.
Despite the 4-3 overtime loss on Saturday to the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers liked their game prior to David Pastrnak’s winner in extra time, and are confident going forward.
“I think that's the best game we've played in quite some time,” said Evan Rodrigues. “Obviously, you want the result, you want the two points, but that's not one we're going to hang our heads on.”
Trailing 3-2 late in the third period, with the net empty, Sam Reinhart found the back of the net for the second time on a last-chance effort with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We can take a lot of positive things from this game,” said captain Aleksander Barkov. “We learned a lot with this game and obviously we want to do the same thing every night we play. It was a good bounce for us at the end of the game in regulation, and a good bounce for them at the end.”
Gaining a point in the dramatic game, the Panthers now boast a 25-15-3 record.
Just over the halfway point of the season, their 53 points are good enough for second place in the Atlantic Division, trailing only the Toronto Maple Leafs with 56 points.
The Panthers will now head north for a quick trip that features a back-to-back against two Metropolitan Division foes in the Philadelphia Flyers (18-20-5) and New Jersey Devils (26-15-4).
Thriving so far this season in back-to-backs, the Panthers own a 4-1-0 record on the second half of consecutive games.
“You don't have to feel good to play our game,” said head coach Paul Maurice on the team’s structure helping in back-to-backs. “You don't have to wait for conditions to be right to do hard things.”
Making the first stop in Philadelphia, the Panthers will take on the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
Overall, Florida owns a 13-7-1 record on the road this season.
INJURY UPDATES
Following Sunday’s practice at Baptist Health IcePlex, Maurice said that neither Aaron Ekblad nor Jonah Gadjovich would travel with the team on the back-to-back road trip.
In 41 games, Ekblad has tallied 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) and a +3 plus/minus rating while averaging a team-high 23:32 of ice time per game on the team’s top pairing.
The 11-year veteran also leads all Panthers defenseman in assists (18) and points (20), and has spent much of the season quarterbacking the team’s top unit on the power play.
Last taking the ice in Utah on Jan. 8, Ekblad has missed two of the last three games.
"We want to be careful," Maurice said of the undisclosed injury. "It's nothing sinister or long term. He played the other night. I thought he played very well with it. The question is how many times do we want to do that? We've got to let this thing heal."
Hampered by injuries in the first half of the season, Gadjovich has recorded a goal, 56 hits and 10 penalty minutes in 18 games.
Last suiting up on Dec. 20, the fourth-line forward leads Florida with 23.82 hits per 60 minutes.
Updates on both players are expected to come when the Panthers return from their trip.
