Raise your hand if you had the Florida Panthers leading the entire NHL in points (56) with just 17 games remaining in the regular season.
Didn’t think so.
What the Miami Marlins can take away from their season-opening series with the Rays
The Panthers continued their dominance on Sunday night, blanking the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 to conclude a 4-0 homestand.
Florida has won a season-high six games in row, the longest active streak in the league.
Backup goalie Chris Driedger made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the Panthers got goals from Aleksander Barkov, Frank Vatrano and Gustav Forsling. Barkov also had an assist, and MacKenzie Weegar added two assists.
“Everyone is having fun,” said Barkov, who had the go-ahead goal early in the second period before Vatrano and Forsling added on in the third.
Driedger, who entered the day fifth in the NHL in goals-against average (2.18) among goalies with a minimum of 16 games played, already has a career-high 11 wins this season (11-4-2).
But Driedger isn’t taking credit.
“It wasn’t as much me as the team effort,” Driedger said. “We were incredible defensively. We locked things down, and I didn’t a lot [of save chances] until their final push at the end.”
Indeed, the Panthers were called for two late penalties — Jonathan Huberdeau with 4:36 left and Mason Marchment with 1:47 remaining. Columbus also pulled goalie Joonas Korpisalo to get a 6-on-4 advantage, but the Panthers hung on for the win.
As for the season as a whole, Driedger and Sergei Bobrovsky (15-5-2, 2.79 GAA) have formed an elite goaltending duo.
“[Bobrovsky] has been playing spectacular, and ‘Dreeg’ has been playing great, too,” Vatrano said. “It’s great to have two goaltenders like that, and we trust whoever is in the net.
“We’re playing as well as we can in front of them, but they are bailing us out, too. They’ve been kicking all year.”
This marked the third straight game in which Vatrano has scored a goal. He has 13 goals this season, and nine of them have come in the third period.
“It’s just the way goals are falling for me right now,” Vatrano said.
Barkov, who had the primary assist on Forsling’s tally, has 14 goals this season. This was just Barkov’s second game back from an injury that cost him six contests.
The scary part for Panthers opponents is that Barkov didn’t return to the ice feeling great. Yet, he has three points in his two games back.
“I was happy to be back, but I didn’t feel that good,” Barkov said of his game on Saturday. “I felt a little bit better today.”
THIS AND THAT
— Driedger on rumors he could get moved between now and the trade deadline that comes at 3 p.m. on April 12: “I try to tune that out, but my buddies have a tendency to fill me in regardless of whether I want to hear it or not. I want to be here, but that’s the business side of hockey.”
— Florida’s first two goals came after steals by Weegar on the first one and Vatrano on the second. Said Barkov: “The whole season we’ve talked about playing like a five-man unit. When we get turnovers, we go quickly to the other end. That’s what happened. That’s how we scored.”
— Panthers coach Joel Quenneville on the winning streak: “We’re getting contributions across the board. I like the balance of our team.”
— The Panthers on Tuesday in Carolina will start a six-game road trip, their longest of the season.
— Weegar added to his career-high total of 23 points.
— Florida is 5-0-1 against the Blue Jackets this season.
