5 thoughts on the Florida Panthers as they ride momentum into the NHL All-Star Break

When Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s wrist shot off an odd-man rush secured the Florida Panthers’ overtime win against the New York Islanders on Saturday, it allowed the Panthers to carry some longstanding momentum into the All-Star Break.

The Panthers enter their extended break with a 31-14-4 record, the second-best mark in the Eastern Conference behind only the Boston Bruins. They have won each of their past four games, have victories 13 of their past 17 overall and have picked up points in 15 of those 17 games (two of the four losses were overtime defeats).

“We have been winning a lot, and that helps, so we know if we stick with it, we are going to have a chance,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We should be happy with what we have accomplished so far, but we must come out of the break and be ready to work even harder.”

Here are five thoughts on the team as they begin their extended period of downtime.

▪ Just how many scoring records will Sam Reinhart break?: With 33 games left on the schedule, Reinhart already has the Panthers’ single-season franchise record for power-play goals (20), consecutive games with a goal (eight) and consecutive games with a special-teams goal (eight — also an NHL record). His 24 special-teams goals are tied for the Panthers’ franchise record.

And Reinhart likely isn’t done there.

Among the other single-season feats he can accomplish before the regular season ends: Total goals (Reinhart has 37; the franchise record is 59 by Pavel Bure in the 2000-01 season), multigoal games (Reinhart has seven; the franchise record is 12, done twice by Bure — first in the 1999-2000 season and then again in the 2000-01 season), shorthanded goals (Reinhart has four; the franchise record is six by Tom Fitzgerald in the 1995-96 season) and game-winning goals (Reinhart has nine; the franchise record is 14 by Bure in the 1999-2000 season).

Reinhart is also on a 13-game point streak, four shy of the franchise record set by Mike Hoffman in the 2018-19 season.

▪ Matthew Tkachuk’s production is starting to match his effort level: The Panthers were never really worried about Tkachuk’s low point total through the first couple months of the season. Tkachuk wasn’t really worried about it, either. The Panthers were winning and he was impacting the game beyond the scoresheet. Eventually, the points would follow.

Well, the points have arrived.

Since the calendar flipped to 2024, Tkachuk has been among the NHL’s best. Tkachuk’s 24 points in January are tied with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the second most in the league. His 11 goals are tied for fourth. His plus-minus rating of plus-11 (meaning the Panthers are outscoring opponents by 11 goals when Tkachuk is on the ice at even strength or in short-handed situations) is tied for second among forwards.

▪ It’s time for Gustav Forsling to get the respect he deserves: Forsling has been part of Florida’s top defense pairing for the past three years and has all but established himself as one of the NHL’s top defensemen, even if he isn’t getting the recognition.

Just how good has he been this year? Consider the following numbers:

The Panthers have given up just 20 goals during 5-on-5 play when Forsling is on the ice, the fewest goals among 68 defensemen who have had at least 750 minutes of ice time at full strength. According to the advanced hockey statistics webiste Natural Stat Trick, opponents’ expected goals for in these situations: 30.15, or about 10 more goal than they have actually allowed.

When Forsling is on the ice at full strength, the Panthers have controlled 59.17 percent of shot attempts. That’s the sixth-best mark among that same group of 68 defensemen.

And Forsling’s production goes beyond just this year. During the past three seasons, Forsling has a plus-minus rating of plus-91, meaning the Panthers have outscored opponents by 91 goals when Forsling is on the ice when the game is played at even strength or when a team scores shorthanded. That’s the third-highest mark in the NHL over that span, behind only Colorado’s Devon Toews (plus-106) and Tkachuk (plus-95).

▪ Panthers goaltenders are complementing each other well: Sergei Bobrovsky is the workhorse in this relationship, and his performance this season landed him an All-Star nomination for the third time in his career. Bobrovsky is 23-10-2 this season in 36 starts with a 2.51 goals against average and .910 save percentage.

But backup Anthony Stolarz has been simply stellar when making spot starts. He is 8-4-2 in 15 outings (13 starts) with a 2.15 goals against average and .916 save percentage. When playing at full strength, Stolarz’ save percentage shoots up to .943 — the third-best mark in the NHL among goalies who have played at least 15 games.

▪ Will the Panthers be able to continue their hot run after a long layoff?: The Panthers aren’t back in action until Feb. 6 when they host the Philadelphia Flyers to begin a three-game homestand. That’s a nine-day span between games played. While the team certainly will take the time off as it prepares for a two-and-a-half month push to finish the regular season, it will be interesting to see if the Panthers are able to pick up where they left off before the break as they try to keep their momentum going.