Unbelievable. The Florida Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. For long
time fans of this franchise it’s almost too good to be true. These days feel like a fever
dream that can’t possibly be real. Yet, real it is.
Last year, fueled by the emotion of victory and nostalgic of the journey from league
laughingstock to the envy of the hockey world, I went searching for an inflection point in
team history. A singular moment in time when the fortunes reversed for the Florida
Panthers organization and the downward or flatlined trajectory of the franchise suddenly
shot skyward. You may recall — it wasn’t the hiring of Bill Zito as general manger or
Paul Maurice as head coach. It wasn’t the bold trade acquisitions of Sam Reinhart, Sam
Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, or Patric Hornqvist.
It was the final significant roster move of former general manager Dale Tallon. The trade
that brought Eetu Luostarinen to the Panthers were the foreshocks of a seismic wave to
come — to the locker room, to the front office, to the coaching staff, and eventually to
the rest of the NHL. Luostarinen has grafted himself to the success of the Panthers and
represents a fully bloomed winning culture of work ethic and sacrifice that is now
unmistakably Florida’s on-ice identity.
Now, with consecutive champagne showers and the Cats firmly affixed atop of the
hockey world, I went searching again. We know when the organization made its shift,
but what about the players? Maurice consistently gives credit to his players — namely
his captain Aleksander Barkov — for not just cultivating a unique and welcoming
environment in the locker room, but also committing to the system completely. After
summiting the peak, it is important to look down below and see how far you’ve come —
to gain perspective of the journey.
March 2, 2023. The Florida Panthers played the Nashville Predators at was then called
FLA Live Arena. The Cats had just stomped the Tampa Bay Lightning two nights earlier,
4-1, with both Luostarinen and Eric Staal picking up a goal and assist each in the
victory. The Panthers were in the lower third of the overall standings and on the outside
of the playoff picture coming into the game.
What happened on that night was the first of two significant occurrences for the
Panthers in March of 2023. Florida lost. On paper, it wasn’t a bad loss. The final score
was 2-1. Nashville opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Matt Duchene and a now
familiar name, John Leonard, added a second tally in the opening period. The Cats got
one back from Brandon Montour less than four minutes into the second period, but
could not push across a tying goal.
Do you remember this game? I do. I remember it being so frustrating. The Panthers
could not enter the offensive zone. They were stunted over and over and over again. It
was maddening.
After the game was over, Maurice made some alarming comments.
“They like a style of game that [sighs] is difficult to win with,” Maurice said. “If you’re
going to play that puck possession game you got to be damn sharp with the puck.
[Sighs again] Nobody plays that game.”
Even after 66 games, Florida was still transitioning from the high-octane Joel
Quenneville and Andrew Brunette style of play to the more simplistic, less creative, but
highly disciplined system of Maurice. The head coach used the word “stubborn” multiple
times in his postgame interview.
It was the inconsistency of the Panthers at the time — both in style of game and in the
results — that baffled the coach and infuriated fans. Less than a year after being
President’s Trophy winners and getting past the first round of the playoffs for the first
time in years, Florida had taken a serious step back under Maurice — so it seemed.
After the loss to the Predators, the Panthers were sitting at 66 points in 63 games. The
Boston Bruins had 101 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs had 84 points. The Carolina
Hurricanes had 88 points. Each would fall prey to the Cats in the postseason, but on
March 3, 2023 it didn’t look like the Panthers were even going to make the playoffs.
Maurice’s primary complaint was that the Panthers weren’t putting pucks deep and
doing the work to retrieve and win possession. We now know that this is a staple of his
system and a critical key to success, but over two years ago, the team was still resisting, even with just 19 games remaining in the season.
The Panthers responded. After the loss to Nashville and a rare public criticism
of his players from Maurice, Florida reeled off six wins and an overtime loss over the next seven
games and jumped into a playoff spot.
Despite the jolt, Florida faltered again. The Panthers dropped four games in a row
culminating in a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on March 27. It was after this game
that more comments went public, but this time from outside the organization — sort of.
“They are a soft team. They are getting everything they deserve right now.” Those were
the words of Keith Tkachuk. Big Walt went on the radio in Toronto and called out the
Panthers toughness.
This marked the last time that anybody called the Maurice-led Florida Panthers soft. It
also was the last time that the Panthers weren’t completely committed to the style that
would ultimately lead them to back-to-back championship parades by the surf. After the
elder Tkachuk’s comments echoed through the hockey world, the Panthers went to
work, ripping off six wins in a row. After the Panthers lost in overtime to the
Maple Leafs, the Penguins dropped a must-win against Chicago and Florida secured a playoff
spot with one game remaining in the season.
The rest is an unapologetic history of success.
Since March 4, 2023, the Panthers have played 246 regular season and playoff games.
The Cats have won 156 of those games — 63 percent.
In a category I’m going to call “Games That Matter,” Florida is even better. Combining
the final 19 games of the 2022-23 season and the last three playoff runs, Florida has 57
wins in 87 games. That is equivalent to winning two out of every three in high pressure,
high stakes situations against some of the best competition in the entire NHL.
In the wake of those two comments, the Panthers have undeniably become one of the
best teams of the last quarter century. The players self-galvanized and embraced an
identity as one of the most difficult rosters to play against — possibly in the history of
the league.
Zito had the vision. Maurice had the structure. Ultimately, the players had to buy in and
execute — and they’ve given Panther fans the performance of a lifetime.