Verhaeghe Says the Panthers Are Building Something, and Maurice Calls Tonight's Detroit Game 'Really, Really Critical'
Florida goes for a season-best fourth straight win tonight in Sunrise behind two playmakers with 32 combined assists — and a power play carrying six of Sam Reinhart's seven goals. Detroit, five points back, is the divisional test Maurice is pointing at.
The Florida Panthers go for a fourth straight win tonight when they host the Detroit Red Wings in Sunrise, and the people inside the room are treating a November divisional game like a measuring stick. Carter Verhaeghe said ahead of puck drop that the group is starting to build on something, and head coach Paul Maurice called the game a divisional matchup that is “really, really critical,” with every team involved being legitimate and the clubs five points apart, the Sunrise Hockey Insider reported Monday evening.
The standings explain the urgency. Florida is 8-4-2 with 18 points, fifth in the Atlantic, and its three-game winning streak — capped by Friday's 5-2 win over Winnipeg — is its longest run of the season so far; a fourth tonight would extend it. Detroit arrives 6-5-3 and eighth in the division, off a 5-4 loss to St. Louis on Saturday, with 41 goals scored and 43 allowed against Florida's 44 and a plus-5 differential.
The engine of Florida's streak is distribution, not finishing. Matthew Tkachuk has 20 points in 14 games and only four of them are goals — the other 16 are assists — and defenseman Seth Jones has matched those 16 assists from the blue line while playing at plus-4. Between them, the two have set up 32 goals in 14 games. The finishing is spread behind them: Verhaeghe has eight goals, four on the power play and two of them game-winners; Brady Tkachuk has eight goals and 15 points; and Sam Reinhart has seven goals, six of them on the power play.
That last split is the number to watch tonight. With six of Reinhart's seven goals coming with the man advantage, so much of Florida's scoring is tied to one unit staying sharp that if Detroit stays out of the penalty box, someone at even strength has to step up — the Insider's own framing of the matchup, and the cleanest preview of how this game will be decided. The Hometown Remix uniform the Panthers unveiled Monday also debuts tonight. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+, and the game final will be filed within 45 minutes of the final horn.
