Florida Panthers Not Worried About Missing Out on Home-Ice Advantage
The Florida Panthers have won more road playoff games than anybody else in the past two postseasons, and they are prepared to do so again as they kick off the playoffs in Tampa.
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers are not intimidated by starting the postseason on the road.
After all, they have been there and done that plenty of times before.
The Panthers made the playoffs as the eighth seed in 2023 and made a run to the Stanley Cup Final after upsetting the NHL’s greatest regular season team of all-time. Since then, they own the most road playoff wins in the league, boasting a 15-8 record away from Sunrise.
When they kick off the 2024 playoffs in Tampa against the Lightning on Tuesday night, they feel confident that they have what it takes to feel comfortable in that environment.
“At this point, we’re pretty experienced both ways — both at home and on the road — in the playoffs, so it doesn’t make much of a difference,” Sam Bennett said. “When you get to start on the road, it’s just a little more bonding time and playoffs is the best time to really bond as a team and get together.
“Just getting together in the team room is one of my favorite parts about the playoffs, so I’m definitely looking forward to that.”
Florida’s game works on the road for two reasons.
In head coach Paul Maurice’s words, it travels well.
The Panthers play a straight-line physical game that does not rely a whole lot on stretching the other team out and making plays. Each line comes in and plays the same heavy forechecking style with a strong defensive component, so there is not a line the opponent can pick on when they get the last change.
“We just play our simple game,” Niko Mikkola said. “We don’t feel pressure to make plays and we just try to keep the score tight and play a tight game, so I think that’s our strength.”
Their depth — especially their third line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, which is strong enough defensively to match up with a lot of team’s No. 1 lines — has helped them through that.
Florida has built on that depth over the years, most recently adding Brad Marchand to the fold to alongside the two Finns, and has become more and more dangerous in that regard as it enters its sixth-straight postseason.
“This might be true of all of the teams that made the playoffs, and some of them might have been a little older in terms of experience, but we don’t think we have the same challenges this year as we did two years ago in terms of our match-ups,” Maurice said. “Anton was 21 years old, and now he’s out there against the other team’s best. We have a pretty high expectation of what they can accomplish.
“So, there’s a level of depth here that has kind of improved each year. The major technical component [of home-ice advantage] is the match-up game and we think we’re OK there.”
The Panthers have been in some pretty rowdy buildings over the years — Edmonton during the Stanley Cup Final, Toronto fresh off of winning its first playoff series since 2004, Boston twice — so they have a pretty good expectation of the atmosphere as well.
“The couple of playoff years, the intensity of the road environment is something we’ve had to deal with, so you have some experience there,” Maurice said. “You understand that you will feel like at times that you’re under siege when you’re not.
“Everything that goes towards your net will be reacted by and bring energy from the home crowd. That’s the emotional advantage that the home team gets. We get it here, but we’ve got enough experience now. It’s still a factor, it’s still something we have to deal with, but we’ve had experience dealing with it.”