Panthers taking aim at Central Division title, playoff run

Jonathan Huberdeau has seen a lot of difficult times in his nine seasons with the Florida Panthers, missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs six times and never advancing past the first round.

This season, however, success has been there from the start.
"More grit, more physicality, it shows in the way we're playing right now," the forward said. "That's why we have success. We've had a lot of years with tough starts to the season, and this year's a shortened season and we knew we had to get off to a good start."
The NHL is playing a 56-game intradivisional regular season because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
The fast start has turned into sustained success and fueled a wave of optimism in South Florida. Driven by a blend of new faces and dependable veterans, the Panthers (16-5-4) are third in the eight-team Discover Central Division, one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes and two behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.
They're 4-1-2 in their past seven games heading into their game at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-F, NHL.TV).
"It's still early in the season, we're not sure where we're going to fit and sit at the end of it, but there's an excitement around here," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're way more competitive and I think the guys are having way more fun than we did last year. There have been a lot of good stories, a lot of positive things that have evolved here right now, and it's been fun to be a part of."
The Panthers opened the season 6-0-2 and haven't experienced much of a slump since. They have lost consecutive games once this season, against the Hurricanes; 4-3 in a shootout Feb. 27 and 3-2 in overtime March 1, still earning a point each time.
"Some games, we're not playing as well and sometimes you can have some stretches," Huberdeau said, "but when we don't play as well as we can, we come back and play one of our best games."
The change in mindset is being noticed by their opponents.
"They got rolling, and when you win, the confidence really starts to come out in everything," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said last week. "They're a high-octane team, you need to make some saves and they've had that this year, and their transition game is probably the best in the League. So when you're feeling good and you know you're getting saves, it just makes your whole game better and I think that's what you're seeing."
Goaltending has been split between Sergei Bobrovsky (9-2-2, 2.94 goals-against average, .905 save percentage in 13 starts) and Chris Driedger (7-3-2, 2.40 GAA, .920 save percentage in 12 starts). The Panthers have improved defensively, allowing 2.80 goals per game (12th in the NHL), down from 3.25 per game last season (tied for 28th). They're allowing 31.0 shots per game (tied for 23rd) after giving up 32.3 per game last season (22nd).

Huberdeau, the No. 3 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, said there's no panic this season, pointing to the fact they are 9-1-4 in games decided by one goal.
"I think we just know what we're capable of," he said. "That's a big part of it, too, confidence. When you know you can do it, even if you're down one or two goals, you know you can come back. It was more defensively that we had issues the past few years. Now we don't spend as much time in our zone and that makes a difference. We know offensively we're going to be there. We're not giving up as many chances in the slot, that makes a big difference."
The Panthers had a taste of the postseason for the first time in four seasons when they lost to the New York Islanders in four games in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers last season.
Then the changes began.
Bill Zito was named general manager Sept. 2. A front office executive with the Blue Jackets since 2013, Zito replaced Dale Tallon, who did not return after 10 seasons with Florida, nine as general manager.
"I had the luxury of having run the pro scouting in Columbus, so I had a little bit of familiarity, maybe even a dangerous amount," Zito said. "I wanted to get with the folks here and try to do a deep dive into what we had as best I could, get some input with those guys, and of course reach out to Joel and the rest of the coaching staff."
The Panthers were aggressive in remaking their roster.
Ten players who appeared in at least 30 games with Florida last season are no longer on the roster, including forwards Mike Hoffman, who led the Panthers with 29 goals in 2019-20, and Evgenii Dadonov, who was second with 25.
Forward Patric Hornqvist was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Colton Sceviour on Sept. 24. The Panthers signed three unrestricted free agents on Oct. 9: forwards Carter Verhaeghe (two-year contract) and Alex Wennberg (one-year contract), and defenseman Radko Gudas (three-year contract). They signed free-agent forward Anthony Duclair, who played for Quenneville with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18, to a one-year contract Dec. 17 and claimed defenseman Gustav Forsling, who also played for Quenneville in Chicago, on waivers from the Hurricanes on Jan. 9.
"We got some fresh faces that have brought in some good attitudes with experience of winning and competitiveness," said Quenneville, who was named Florida coach April 8, 2019. "I commend Bill. I think he's relied on the staff here to have a good assessment on some of these guys and he'll bounce them off the coaching staff as well."
Hornqvist, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017, is third on the Panthers with 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 25 games. Verhaeghe, who won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, is fifth with 17 points (nine goals, eight assists). Wennberg has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 25 games. Duclair, who's out with an upper-body injury, has scored 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 19 games.

Florida veterans have been productive, too. Huberdeau leads them with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) and center Aleksander Barkov, in his eighth season with the Panthers, is second with 27 points (eight goals, 19 assists).
The Panthers' established players and latest acquisitions have meshed well.
"I think maybe sometimes what's getting lost in the narrative here is the quality of player," Zito said. "You've got some pretty good players who were here, and the character of all the guys to be able to absorb their new teammates seamlessly, play as a team and interact as a team in some pretty difficult COVID circumstances, where we're together probably more than we'd normally be."
How Florida finishes the season remains to be seen, but a strong foundation is being created.
"We're not satisfied with a bad game and that's what we have to keep doing," Huberdeau said. "We want to make the playoffs but for the future, I think it's good. We're going to build a winning culture."