SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The phenomenon of the Comeback Cats actually appeared to take off again in late November. The Florida Panthers had been trailing the Washington Capitals 4-1 early within the third interval, and a three-goal deficit that deep right into a sport nearly all the time means a loss.
Not that point, it didn’t. The Panthers scored 4 targets, together with the gamewinner with 15 seconds left, in some way pulling out a 5-4 win.
“There’s a belief in that room that we’re never out of a fight,” Florida’s Ryan Lomberg mentioned that evening.
That perception by no means wavered, both.
The greatest common season in Florida historical past — and the most effective common season by any workforce within the NHL this season — is now full. No workforce this season had extra come-from-behind wins than the Panthers, who now will get able to see the Capitals once more in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff collection that begins Tuesday.
“You don’t have too many times in your career or in your life that you can be on a team like this,” Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette mentioned. “And we’re a long, long way from getting to where we want to be. But I think we’ve enjoyed each other. They love playing with each other. They love to compete together. And those are all fun signs and, for me, just to be part of that is pretty special.”
The Panthers had an NHL-best 29 comeback wins this season. They had 24 wins after giving up the primary purpose, probably the most within the NHL since Calgary’s 26 such video games in 1990-91. They pulled off 5 wins after trailing by three targets; the remainder of the NHL had 14 of these. They had two wins in video games the place they trailed by 4 targets; the remainder of the NHL mixed for 3.
“It’s been incredible,” mentioned Jonathan Huberdeau, the workforce’s main scorer and Hart Trophy candidate.
The resiliency for Florida this season wasn’t restricted to what was taking place on the scoreboard.
There was no secret that the Panthers had been anticipating to be Stanley Cup contenders getting into this season, and one of many largest explanation why was the individual calling the pictures on the bench. Joel Quenneville is a three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach, somebody who gave Florida unbelievable credibility, and had by far the most effective successful proportion of any Panthers coach ever. Quenneville received the Panthers off to a 7-0-0 begin — and by no means coached once more.
Quenneville, the second-winningest coach in NHL historical past, needed to resign after he was amongst these implicated for not swiftly responding to Kyle Beach’s allegations of being sexually assaulted by one other coach with the Chicago Blackhawks in the course of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Quenneville was Chicago’s head coach when Beach mentioned he was assaulted by video coach Brad Aldrich.
The season might have fallen aside proper there. It didn’t. The Panthers beat Detroit in Brunette’s first sport and saved on successful. They mentioned the chemistry within the locker room would get them by means of the teaching change. They had been proper.
“We come to the rink every day and have fun,” Florida’s Brandon Montour mentioned. “And obviously, we’ve got a heck of a hockey club in there. We take each shift, each game, game by game and it’s been showing all year.”
There was no scarcity of adversity, both. Team captain Aleksander Barkov escaped severe harm when he took a scary knee-to-knee hit in November. Almost half the roster was coping with COVID-19 in December. Top defenseman Aaron Ekblad was misplaced to a knee harm in mid-March, although he’s anticipated again sooner or later within the playoffs.
They simply saved successful, then made some tweaks across the commerce deadline, bringing in — amongst others — Claude Giroux from Philadelphia. Giroux has but to hoist the Stanley Cup. He determined Florida can be the most effective alternative to vary that.
“That’s the reason I’m here,” Giroux mentioned. “I’m here to win.”
The Panthers have achieved a ton of that this season. A partial listing of the workforce single-season information: most wins (by 11, 58-47), most targets (340 this season, breaking the previous mark by a staggering 93), most standings factors (by 19), most pictures on purpose (by 240), and most factors by a participant (Huberdeau had 115, breaking Barkov’s earlier document by 19).
They gained the Presidents’ Trophy for the primary time. They had the longest successful streak within the NHL this season, 13 video games. They had been the one workforce to have two separate double-digit successful streaks at dwelling. They had been solely the third workforce in NHL historical past to have separate successful streaks of eight and 13 video games in the identical season.
All nice stuff. All pales compared to what the Panthers really need. The franchise — which hasn’t gained a playoff collection since 1996 — has by no means gained the Stanley Cup. This workforce’s singular purpose is to vary that.
“I think we have to be appreciative,” Brunette mentioned. “But we also understand there’s a lot more moments that we need to attain to get the big one.”
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