Panthers handle Stanley Cup-favorite Avalanche for first 4-0-0 start in franchise history

The Florida Panthers knew they had a chance to be special this season. They also knew they would put those lofty expectations and championship dreams to the test right away.

Their first four games, including Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche, were a gauntlet of Stanley Cup contenders and some the best teams in the NHL — a potential benchmark for the still-young Panthers to start to prove their breakthrough 2020-21 season was no fluke.

By the end of the second period Thursday, Florida was having its way with another championship hopeful and on its to another victory — an eventual 4-1 win in Sunrise — for the best four-game start in franchise history.

“We’re playing great hockey right now,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said.

The Panthers coughed an early lead, then scored twice and added an empty-net goal with 1:13 left to ignite another celebration from the 11,425 at FLA Live Arena. For the first time in franchise history, Florida (4-0-0) is perfect through four games.

After surviving a shaky start, it was an outright dismantling from the Panthers against a team with legitimate title aspirations. Florida outshot the Avalanche, 38-31, despite managing just three shots on goal in the first 14 minutes and pulled away with a 23-shot second period. Colorado, which began the season as the betting favorite to win the Cup, scored its only goal off a botched clear in the final minute of the first period and otherwise couldn’t beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

The goaltender made 30 saves, stopped 12 of 13 high-danger scoring chances and picked up his 300th win to help keep the Panthers unbeaten. Florida also got goals from forwards Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Verhaeghe in the first two periods to pick up a fourth straight win.

The Panthers’ victories have mostly come easy, even though the opposition hasn’t been.

They beat the Pittsburgh Penguins — albeit without star center Sidney Crosby — in overtime last Thursday. They blew out the New York Islanders on Saturday and followed it with a road win against the two-time defending-champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday before taking down the Avalanche (1-3-0) on Thursday. They’ve outscored those four playoff fixtures by a combined 18-7.

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Colorado was, in theory, the toughest test yet, both because of its massive expectations and its elite speed to match up with Florida’s.

For 14 minutes, it made for one of the worst stretches of the Panthers’ season. They took nearly five minutes to put their first shot on goal and only had three when Reinhart finally broke through to give Florida a 1-0 lead.

It took a hustle play from left wing Mason Marchment to make it happen. Center Anton Lundell sent a pass down the ice, and Marchment raced Colorado defenseman Sam Girard to try to prevent an icing call. They skated side by side nearly all the way to the end boards, where Marchment checked Girard out of the way to win the loose puck. He took his time while star forward Gabriel Landeskog headed his way, thenhe tapped a backhand pass to the front of the net, where Reinhart scored his first goal as a Panther to give Florida a 1-0 lead with 5:28 left in the period.

After being held without a point in his first two games as a Panther, Reinhart moved down to the third line earlier this week, and has had a goal and two assists in two games since.

The Panthers quickly let the lead slip away, though. With 53.2 seconds left in the period, Florida couldn’t clear a rebound away from the front of the net — despite having a numbers advantage — and star right wing Mikko Rantanen beat Bobrovsky to tie the game 1-1. From there, it was an onslaught.

Florida started the season 0 for 9 on the power play before finally breaking through for its first power-play goal Tuesday, then it added another Thursday when forward Bennett put the Panthers back ahead with a goal from the slot with 10:56 left in the second period. A little more than four minutes later, Verhaeghe scored another and Florida went ahead 3-1. Coloardo only put eight shots on goal in its desperation third period.

“We’ve beaten a lot of good teams so far — a really good test for us right away to the start of the season — and I think we did pretty well,” star center Aleksander Barkov said. “Now we’ve got to keep rolling.”

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The Panthers embraced lofty expectations at the start of the year. After years of being a league-wide laughingstock, Florida became an unlikely contender last year, brought back nearly every important piece, and added highly touted rookies and high-profile role players around the edges. The Panthers were more than happy to finally feel the pressure that comes with the expectation of being one of the top teams in the league.

Through four games, it’s easy to see why. Eleven players have scored multiple points for Florida. All four lines have had one game when they had a case as the Panthers’ best. Bobrovsky has been fantastic in net and rookie goaltender Spencer Knight was even better in his lone start of the season Tuesday.

Florida’s season won’t be defined by its first few weeks, of course, but too many previous seasons were derailed by them. These Panthers are already different than the perpetually underwhelming teams of old.

“We were playing great hockey last year, but this year is a new expectation, new everything, new opportunity and we have to establish ourselves again,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s a long season — so many games — and it is important to have a good start and so far we’re happy where we’re at.”