Panthers Postscripts: What Florida is playing for entering final regular-season homestand

The Florida Panthers are coming down the home stretch.

One final four-game homestand separates them from the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and another attempt to win the cup for the first time in franchise history.

The Panthers (48-24-6, 102 points) have been on a bit of a skid as of late, dropping nine of their past 12 and picking up just eight points in that span, but the Panthers have their spot in the playoffs locked up, and their attention now in on fine-tuning their game before the postseason officially begins.

“It’s been a good year, but obviously that’s not our focus at all,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. “We’re not really thinking about that or where we finish. It’s all about preparing the right way for what’s to come. That’s all that we’re worried about.”

There are a few things Florida needs to clean up before the playoffs begin, though. Among them:

▪ Staying out of the penalty box: The Panthers have gone on the penalty kill 60 times total during the past 12 games and have been short-handed at least five times in eight of those 12 games. That’s by far the most in the league in this stretch; the second most is 49 by Anaheim and no other team has been shorthanded more than 38 times in this stretch.

The Panthers’ penalty kill has still been successful overall — the 85 percent kill rate during the 12 games is ninth since March 14 and actually slightly better than the team’s season average of 82.5 percent — but giving playoff opponents multiple power-play chances each game puts them in a dangerous spot.

“We can’t be killing so many penalties per game,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Other than that, I think our effort is there and our intensity is there.”

▪ Crisper defense and goaltending: Since the Panthers’ one-two punch of Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz went on a run of 21 consecutive games allowing no more than three goals from Jan. 22 to March 12, Florida has given up at least four goals in five of its past 12 games (not including a the fourth goal credited to the Rangers for their shootout win on March 23). They have given up 39 total goals, 18 of which were high-danger goals.

The 3.25 goals allowed per game over this 12-game run is the 10th most in the NHL. Heading into the stretch, Florida led the NHL allowing an average of just 2.35 goals per game.

▪ Get healthy: Forward Carter Verhaeghe and defenseman Aaron Ekblad are out for the rest of the regular season, but Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the expectation is both will be available for the start of the playoffs.

▪ Figuring out forward lines: Ever since the Panthers acquired Vladimir Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo at the trade deadline, Maurice has been consistently tinkering with his forward lines to figure out how to best maximize production from his players.

With four games left, things are still a work in progress.

There are a few notable groupings that will likely remain unchanged, such as the line of Sam Bennett centering Matthew Tkachuk and Verhaeghe (when healthy) plus Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen remaining together on their line.

Beyond that, Maurice needs to figure out how to best implement the rest of his players.

Which two among Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues and Tarasenko are best suited to play with Aleksander Barkov on the top line? And then who moves to the third line with Lundell and Luostarinen?

What type of wingers does Maurice want on the fourth line with Kevin Stenlund? Will it be the bruisers in Jonah Gadjovich and Ryan Lomberg drawing in or will Nick Cousins, Okposo and Steven Lorentz find ways to draw into the lineup?

These final four games will be telling.

Standings update

The Panthers enter this week five points behind the Boston Bruins (46-17-15, 107 points) and five points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs (44-23-9, 97 points) in the Atlantic Division, although Toronto has two games in hand.

Winning the division is all but out of the question at this point, so the goal from here is holding off the Maple Leafs to get second place and secure home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs, which will most likely be against Toronto.

Florida’s final four games of the regular season are as follows: Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators, Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres and April 16 against the Maple Leafs.

Paul Maurice’s latest milestone

The Panthers’ win at the Senators was Maurice’s 865th career victory as an NHL coach. That moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the NHL’s all-time wins list, surpassing Lindy Ruff (864).

“What hits me is sometimes I think back and I thought, ‘If I could coach 500 games in this league that would be something else,’” Maurice said in Ottawa after the win. “I think the average number is 250 or 350. Then you hit it and you go, ‘Man, if I could get 500 wins that would be something.’ I have more fun coaching the game now than I’ve ever had in my life.”

The three ahead of Maurice: Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969) and Barry Trotz (914).

Recognition for Oliver Ekman-Larsson

The South Florida chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association on Friday announced that defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been selected as the Panthers’ 2023-24 nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

The award is given annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. Each PHWA chapters nominates a player for the award from the NHL club they cover.

A 14-year NHL veteran, Ekman-Larsson signed with the Panthers this offseason after a pair of injury-riddled seasons with the Vancouver Canucks that led to him being part of the largest contract buyout in NHL history.

In 78 games this season, Ekman-Larsson has nine goals (second among Florida defensemen only to Gustav Forsling’s 10) and 30 points (third behind Forsling’s 37 and Brandon Montour’s 32).