The Florida Panthers, the exceedingly-fun current leaders of the Atlantic Division, extended their franchise record winning streak to nine games with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Sunday night. Two goals from future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr and 29 saves by backup goalie Al Montoya were the difference in a game that kept the Panthers rolling in their expectations-defying season.
They are the fourth team to go on a nine-game winning streak this season, tying the league-high set by the Washington Capitals, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers among teams with the longest winning streaks in the NHL this season.
However, the Panthers are doing it in a year where not as much was expected of them. And they’re doing it with a ton of help from players young and old, or young and Jagr. The 43-year-old extended his team lead to 28 points with his two goals Sunday night.
He first scored 27 seconds into the game, starting things off on a high note. Later, Jagr broke open a 1-1 deadlock at 8:52 of the third period, showing that he can still get up the ice quickly enough on the rush and find the best place for him to score from.
Have a look at goal No. 2:
Never leave us, @68Jagr. #MINvsFLA https://t.co/GeprjTgxdG
— NHL (@NHL) January 4, 2016
Looks like the wrists are still working.
Jagr now has 13 goals this season. He is just six goals away from tying Brett Hull’s 741, which ranks third on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. The Legend is also putting together one of the best seasons by a player aged 43 or older in NHL history.
For reference, Teemu Selanne was 43 years old in his final season with the Anaheim Ducks. He had 27 points in 64 games playing for a team that eventually won its division.
Only two other players aged 43 or older had more productive seasons than the one Jagr is having right now, with No. 68 likely to surpass both. Gordie Howe posted a still-mesmerizing 41 points at age 51. Mark Messier had the best old-guy season on record with 43 points in 74 games when he was also 43. (All numbers via hockey-reference.com)
Jagr, who was also voted by fans as one of four captains for the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, is on pace for 60 points as of right now. It’s just ridiculous.
But what has been more surprising is that this was not supposed to be the year the Panthers took a giant step forward. Many pundits believed they’d at least contend for a playoff spot, but to be leading the Atlantic Division in January was not something anyone could have foreseen. There were supposedly too many young players and too many others that were well past their prime. The team's highest paid forward, Dave Bolland, can't even crack the lineup.
The Panthers now have a three-point lead on the rest of the Atlantic Division for first place. They are one of just five teams in the entire NHL with 50 or more points in the standings so far.
There’s going to be a lot of debate about whether they’re a mirage or if their level of play over the last few months is at all sustainable. Those are valid discussions to have, especially with the Panthers boasting the third-highest PDO – a metric that correlates to good fortune – in the league while only controlling 47.7 percent of the shot attempts in five-on-five play (both via war-on-ice.com).
That said, over the last month-plus, the Florida Panthers have been incredibly entertaining.
That’s not something that is usually said about a team that has four postseason appearances in 22 years of existence, including just one in the last 15. But something special is happening in South Florida.
It’s not just Jagr. It’s Roberto Luongo, who sat out Sunday night’s franchise record-extending win, and his stunning .929 save percentage. It’s 20-year-old Aleksander Barkov coming into his own as one of the best young two-way centers in the game right now. It’s Jonathan Huberdeau regaining his form as a strong setup man. It’s 19-year-old Aaron Ekblad building off of his Calder Trophy season. It’s head coach Gerard Gallant, recently the recipient of a multi-year extension from the team, getting his group to play some of the best hockey its fan base has ever seen. It’s a cast of depth players that are finding ways to contribute and give the Panthers multiple lines for teams to worry about. And sure, it’s also about luck. Every team can use a bounce or two to stretch a winning streak to nine games in today's NHL.
But whatever is going on with the Panthers, the people in South Florida are noticing.
The Panthers just wrapped up a six-game home stand. In the first five games, the team saw its attendance increase every single game. They had a modest 13,459 in attendance against the Canucks at the start of the home stand. It went up 1,000-plus the next game, up 2,000-plus the game after that, then increased by nearly 3,000 more the game after that. On Saturday against the Rangers, 20,289 spectators were on hand at the BB&T Center.
It was back down to 15,426 against the Wild Sunday, but that’s still a far cry from the half-empty buildings the team has seen often over the last few years.
This is a team that deserves the attention they’re getting. What once was about Jagr’s attempt to climb the NHL history books – which he is still doing – is now also about a team that is defying the odds, battling their way towards victories and perhaps arriving ahead of schedule.
The young core general manager Dale Tallon built gives the team a solid foundation. Older players brought in like Jagr, Luongo, Jussi Jokinen and Willie Mitchell, adding to others like Brian Campbell who have already been there a while, are all coming together and finding success. Few saw it working this well.
No one knows how long this is going to last, or if the Panthers can keep this up. What we do know is that this is too fun to look away from right now and the NHL has an unlikely darling in South Florida’s hockey team.
