CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - After allowing 14 goals over their last three games, the Florida Panthers unveiled some new defensive pairings during Monday's practice at the Panthers IceDen before embarking on a season-long road trip that ends late next week in Finland.
Notebook: New D Pairings; Injury Updates on Luongo, MacKenzie
The top-pairing of Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad has been split up, with Yandle now being paired with Alexander Petrovic and Ekblad lining up alongside Mike Matheson. The bottom pairing of Bogdan Kiselevich and MacKenzie Weegar remained unchanged, although even more adjustments could be coming in the near future when Mark Pysyk returns to the lineup.
Pysyk, who sustained an upper-body injury in Friday's win in D.C., is considered day-to-day.
"We were going to try it a couple games ago, but then Mark Pysyk got hurt," coach Bob Boughner said of the re-tooled pairings. "I didn't want to switch too much over. But, especially when you're on the road and you don't have your last matchup, every team has one or two heavy lines, big lines. We want to make sure that if we put Matty and Ekkie together, obviously two guys with a pretty good set of feet, they can handle the speed.
"We're just trying different things here. You see today that I had different lines. As much as we could have four or five wins here, and we've gone to overtime, I think, four times now, those are fine lines about having our record better than it is. At this point in the season, I'm still looking for that extra level. Protecting leads, obviously. We talked about that, playing a full 60 [minutes]."
As Boughner said, the margin between victory and defeat has been razor thin for the Panthers so far this season. The team is off to a 1-2-3 start, but just as easily could be sitting at 6-0-0. Four of their first six games have gone to overtime, and every game has been decided by just one goal.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Florida is allowing the seventh-fewest shots in the league per 60 minutes (28.36), but the fifth-most goals per game (3.83). That tells us that although the team has done a great job of limiting opportunities, the few chances that opponents do get are capitalized on, as many goals against this season have come off the rush or on the power play.
"It depends on how you look it," Matheson said of Florida's early-season record. "It can be difficult in a sense that we've been that close, and we could be 5-1-0 or whatever the case may be. But this time last year we were struggling and we weren't getting any points, so you have to look at it in a sense that this year we are getting points. And as much as we'd rather be winning the games and coming out with two points, we are still getting points out of these games and we haven't even come close to playing the best hockey we can. That's a positive way of looking at it."
Having found success together previously during a 2016 playoff series against the Islanders, the pairing of Matheson and Ekblad has huge potential for the Panthers, as both players have great offensive instincts and, given they are both still under the age of 25, plenty of untapped talent.
"I think we think alike in a lot of situations," said Matheson, who ranks third among Florida's defenseman in average ice time (20:35). "That allows us to read off each other really well. It'll be important for us to keep it simple together early on, especially because we haven't played much together in the last couple years. It'll be important to do that and manage our game well."
As for Petrovic, the physical defenseman believes he'll compliment Yandle's offensive skillset.
"I think it's good," said Petrovic, who leads the Panthers in hits (18) and blocked shots (10). "We both just go out and play to our identity. I'm out there to make it tougher on other team's first lines. That's my job. I'm just going to take pride in that and see how it goes… I think that was my goal this year, to come in and be a physical presence and just be really good defensively."
The Panthers kick off their five-game road trip on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers.
INJURY UPDATES
- Derek MacKenzie will not be joining the Panthers on their upcoming road trip and is scheduled to undergo surgery on his injured shoulder upon the team's return, Boughner said. The 37-year-old center has been out of the lineup since aggravating the injury in Tampa on Oct. 6.
"He's going to be out, obviously, a large chunk of time," Boughner said. "Hopefully we're playing a long time. If that's the case and he's ready to go, I'd be glad to have him back."
- Roberto Luongo recently began skating and is progressing in his rehab from a strained MCL in his right leg that he suffered in the season opener against the Lightning on Oct. 6. The 39-year-old starting goaltender will join the Panthers on their road trip, but Boughner still considers his recovery timetable to be "week to week" right now. Luongo's initial diagnosis was 2-4 weeks.
"He's getting better and progressing, for sure," Boughner said.
MONDAY'S PRACTICE LINES
Forwards
Evgenii Dadonov - Aleksander Barkov - Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau - Vincent Trocheck - Denis Malgin
Frank Vatrano - Jared McCann - Mike Hoffman
Troy Brouwer/Maxim Mamin - Juho Lammikko - Colton Sceviour
Defense
Mike Matheson - Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle - Alexander Petrovic
Bogdan Kiselevich - MacKenzie Weegar
Goalies
Michael Hutchinson (Confirmed to start Tuesday)
James Reimer
