"Back-to-back's always tough, but I think that's how you get to this level," Brown said. "We've got to suck it up, get some rest tonight and come back and try and do the same thing. San Jose's a pretty good team, but I think if we can stick to our fundamentals we'll be alright."
Opening up their franchise-record, nine-game homestand with two wins in three games, Florida currently resides in second place in the Atlantic Division with a 14-9-5 record. In that three-game stretch, they've surrendered one-or-fewer goals two times and own an overall advantage of 9-5.
Against Columbus, they jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 18 seconds into the first period on a goal from Evgenii Dadonov. In the second, Brown extended the lead to 2-0 with his second goal of the season. In the third, Brett Connolly's team-leading 13th goal of the campaign made it 3-0.
With the game nearing its end, Mike Hoffman scored an empty-netter to lock in the 4-1 win.
"We all wanted to start something good here in the home stretch," said Hoffman, who is tied for second on the team with 11 goals. "I think tonight was a big night for it. Obviously against Bob's former team, it's always nice to get a win for your goalie when that happens. I thought everyone played well. Brownie had a big goal for us. It got us going and I think we just rolled from there."
Aleksander Barkov also picked up a pair of assists in the win to move into a tie with Jonathan Huberdeau for the team-scoring lead with 34 points. Over the last 16 games, the top-line duo has been producing on offense at an absurd rate, tallying a combined 15 goals and 27 assists.
Averaging 3.46 goals per game, the Panthers currently possess the fifth-ranked offense in the league. Over their last seven home games, they've netted at least four goals five different times.
Overall, Florida owns an 8-4-2 record at home this season.
"It's an important homestand for us," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "The first game we had we did everything right. For part of the game the next night it looked like we were on the right path. I thought we did really good things [against Columbus] for the most part. Let's keep playing the right way here at home. If you do that, you'll get good results."
The Sharks (15-14-2) are currently mired in a three-game skid, including a lopsided 7-1 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Giving up at least five goals in three of their last six outings, they've seen their defense drop to 28th in the league at 3.39 goals allowed per game.
Evander Kane paces the team in goals (13), while Logan Couture has the most points (29).
After being pulled in favor of backup Aaron Dell after allowing four goals on 21 shots against the Lightning, the Sharks could go back to Martin Jones in net tonight.
As for the Panthers, backup Chris Driedger could slide back into the crease after Bobrovsky got the nod in last night's game. Driedger is 1-1-0 this season with a .942 save percentage and one shutout.
"We've got a dangerous opponent after today," Quenneville said after last night's win, looking ahead to the Sharks. "We know that San Jose is one of those teams that has a ton of speed. They play a fast game and have very mobile and active defensemen."
The Panthers have won each of their last two meetings with the Sharks.
