It was a fun atmosphere inside Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday night.
The Florid Panthers played their final game before the league takes a couple weeks off for the 4 Nations Face-off tournament and it went quite well for the home team.
Playing against Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators, Florida used a dominant second period and another strong game in goal from Sergei Bobrovsky to take down the Sens 5-1.
While much of the spotlight was on the Tkachuk brothers, and rightly so as both put up some big numbers, any time these teams get together lately it usually becomes a very entertaining night.
Now the Cats will head into the extended break riding high with wins in five of their past six overall and a five-game home winning streak.
Here are Saturday’s takeaways:
BETTER AS GAME PROGRESSED
It wasn’t that the Panthers didn’t play a strong first period.
Florida had 10 of the first 12 shots on goal, including several of the high danger variety, but Linus Ullmark was spectacular for Ottawa despite the high goal total he finished with.
The Cats followed up their 16-shot opening period with 20 in the middle frame while controlling nearly all of the even strength puck possession and basically taking over the game.
“I thought in the first period we were good, so were they, but they had a little bit of an edge I thought just on some sharpness,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Then after that, we kind of matched the intensity of it. They’re fighting for their playoff lies, and they’ve had a good run, and they got some guys out of their lineup. I think both teams are little under gas, that’s five (games) in eight (days for us). I like the way we got stronger as that game went on, and it was consistent looking. Really from January on, we’ve been a pretty consistent looking team. Our results weren’t in January, but our game was good, and I thought we finished off the right way for the break.”
TKACHUK ON A HEATER
Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal for the sixth straight game on Saturday.
He has three goals and six points over his past two games.
He has 13 points during his six-game goal streak.
He has five multi-point games in his past eight outings.
We’ve seen Chucky go on some impressive runs during his time with the Panthers and this one is right up there with the best of them.
It’s also no coincidence that Florida has been reeling off quite a few more wins lately than they had been, as often the team goes as Tkachuk does.
“He’s been a big part of that,” Maruice said of Tkachuk. “We talk about that emotional understanding…we’re playing all right, but we’re not getting great results. Like we’re okay, we’re right where we want to be, and then he finds a way to be that catalyst to get us going.”
AND HE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE
Tkachuk is one of three Panthers players who are riding six-game point streaks.
Florida captain Sasha Barkov has three goals and 11 points over his past six games.
Sam Reinhart has logged assists in six straight, with two goals and nine points during his run.
But wait, there’s more!
After going 20 games without scoring a goal, Sam Bennett has netted five over his past 10 games.
Carter Verhaeghe was held off the scoresheet Saturday but he’s still accumulated four goals and seven points over his past four games.
Going back to mid-December, Anton Lundell has been consistently producing, racking up 17 points over his past 26 games.
The Cats are rolling, folks.
“They weren’t scoring in December, and I think there’s a reason for it,” Maurice said. “I didn’t think we were getting a lot. We were winning some games, and then we had a bit of a dry spell. Our power play wasn’t…when you look at it, Aaron Ekblad has come back into our lineup and a lot of things have just fallen into place for us defensively, but also the matchups become right and you start scoring some goals.”
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS – FLORIDA
Matthew Tkachuk scores for 6th straight game, Panthers take down Senators 5-1
Panthers host Senators in battle of Tkachuk brothers ahead of 4 Nations break
The Hockey Show: Bill Lindsay talks 4 Nations, Panthers aiming at repeat, who’s hot in the East
Three takeaways: Matthew Tkachuk on fire, Florida finishing tough stretch strong
Tkachuk goal with 11.8 left sends Panthers to 3-2 victory in St. Louis
