After a particularly promising start to the regular season, the Florida Panthers suffered their third straight loss on Saturday, a 4-1 decision at home to the Colorado Avalanche. This bumped them further out of the top spot in the Atlantic Division rankings, a place they’ve occupied most of the year.
The Panthers were obviously not in high spirits after the 7-4 loss, but they’re professionals at this. And as Stanley Cup champions, they’ve been through ruts in the past and still made their way into competing and coming home with the franchise’s first title.
And given a rough patch in the schedule, they’re worn out heading into the holidays. But coach Paul Maurice made it known, after the loss, that they would not be taking a day off. It indeed is time to double down, so they got back to work at the team’s Ft. Lauderdale training facility Sunday, and they will host the Washington Capitals in Sunrise on Monday.
Expect the players to be on the same page when they take the ice against Washington. At least that’s the sentiment that Aaron Ekblad, defenseman and alternate captain, told reporters to expect.
“We’ll get back to work, get with the video (team), and come to the rink with some anger and intensity,” he said. “We know how to play our game. We just have to find a way to get to it on a more consistent basis. There are moments and seasons where you have these kinds of stretches, and it’s never easy, But it’s important again to stick together and just find a way out together.”
The only question is … how? Clearly, the Panthers are giving it everything they have in the games, so something must be missing. Something needs to be tweaked.
Maurice seems to think they are overcomplicating it. He believes that they need to “get back to trying to get one thing done when (they) touch the ice every night and (they’ll) build from that. So, we’ll identify that, get them dialed in, and then just grind.”
It won’t be easy. The Capitals are in third place in the Metropolitan Division, and on Wednesday night, the Panthers will host the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that is ahead of them in the Atlantic.
Those teams are considered contenders for the Stanley Cup this season, and as the team that has played for that title the last two seasons, the Panthers appear to be getting the very best version of the opponents, night in and night out. Everyone wants to defeat the champions.
Regardless, the Panthers believe they will have a chance to defend the title once again in 2025, but for now, it’s time to get back to the basics. They need to take it one step at a time.
“We’ve just got to commit to doing it,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, admitting that an elevated sense of defense is needed. “We’ve got enough offense in here to win, we’ve seen it before. We’ve just got to get back to what our focus has always been, since I’ve been here, and that’s defend, defend, defend.”
They’ll have a chance to do so this week against a Capitals team that has 27 points, and a Toronto team that has 28. The Panthers have 25, but do have time to climb their way back up the leaderboard.
