The Florida Panthers are on fire — and the same thing can be said for defenseman Nate Schmidt.
Florida, the reigning Stanley Cup champion, is off to a dream start to the playoffs, winning both of its road games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Game 3 is set for Saturday afternoon in Sunrise, Fla.
Schmidt, who turns 34 in July, has never had double-figure goals in any of his 12 NHL seasons. In fact, he had just five goals in 80 games this season, however he tallied twice in the Panthers’ 6-2 win in Game 1 and one more in a 2-0 victory in Game 2.
“He’s got a great shot,” Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said of Schmidt. “He needs to keep shooting. He’s being aggressive right now, and it’s great to see.”
Schmidt was waived on June 30 by the Winnipeg Jets, who bought out the final year of his contract.
Three days later, the Panthers signed Schmidt to a one-year, $800,000 deal.
This week, Schmidt became just the second defenseman in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to score the game-winning goal in the first two games of the playoffs. Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom (2007), a Hall of Famer, is the other defenseman to accomplish the feat.
However, not everything is going Florida’s way as captain Aleksander Barkov sustained an undisclosed injury midway through Thursday’s third period.
Barkov, who was away from the puck, took a hit from Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel, who was assessed a major penalty following a video review. On Friday, the NHL suspended Hagel one game for the hit.
The Panthers have not provided an injury update on Barkov, who is regarded as one of the best two-way forwards in the league.
“He means everything,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said of Barkov. “He’s been carrying us the whole season.”
Meanwhile, the Lightning suddenly are appearing stuck in the mud.
They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2022, but they haven’t won a playoff series since. In fact, Tampa Bay has lost seven of its past eight playoff games.
In addition, Thursday’s defeat was Tampa Bay’s first shutout loss in the playoffs since 2018.
“We’ve got to get more pucks to the net,” Lightning forward Jake Guentzel said. “We’ve got to create some havoc, maybe break them down. We’ve got to get people in front of (Panthers goalie Sergei) Bobrovsky.”
Indeed, Bobrovsky has outplayed Lightning goalie Andre Vasilevskiy in this series.
Even so, Vasilevskiy — a five-time All-Star, two-time Stanley Cup champ and winner of both the Vezina and Conn Smythe trophies — was much better on Thursday, allowing just Schmidt’s goal. The other goal was scored into an empty net.
If Vasilevskiy is back on track, then it will be up to Tampa Bay’s offense, which finished fifth in the NHL on the power play in the regular season. On Thursday, however, the Lightning went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
“Our entries were not as good,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said when asked about the power play. “(Florida) did a good job at the line. We’ll do video (study) to try to be better (on Saturday).”
The Lightning also have to get Nikita Kucherov going after he was first or tied for first in the NHL in the regular season in assists (84) and points (121). He also scored 37 goals.
Yet, he has not scored in his past 12 playoff games. And, in this series so far, he has just one assist.
–Field Level Media
