Playoff Panthers! Florida rallies past Predators to make long-awaited postseason return

Frank Vatrano’s first playoff push with the Florida Panthers ended with the Panthers being eliminated in the penultimate game of the regular season in 2016.

Jonathan Huberdeau knows Florida’s “loyal” fans “didn’t have much to cheer for” throughout most of his first eight years with the Panthers.

Joel Quenneville came to South Florida in 2019 with the goal to change everything for this long-suffering organization. The first step was simply making the Stanley Cup playoffs, something that had only happened five times in franchise history before the three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach took over before last season.

In Year 2, the Panthers are finally back after rallying for a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators to clinch a playoff spot Tuesday in Nashville.

“At the beginning of the year, that’s our goal,” Quenneville said. “We want to be a playoff team and we want to finish as high as we can and then we’ll sort it out when you get to the next season.”

After reaching the qualifying round for the expanded NHL postseason last year, Florida (32-14-5) is officially headed to the traditional 16-team Cup playoffs for only the sixth time in franchise history and the first time since 2016. With five games left in the regular season, it’s the earliest the Panthers have clinched a spot since 2000, and now they can spend the final two weeks jockeying for position and chasing the No. 1 seed in the Central Division.

Florida remains two points behind the first-place Carolina Hurricanes and one point ahead of the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning, although the Hurricanes and Lightning have both played two fewer games than the Panthers, and lead Florida in points percentage.

“It’s nice to know that you’re in the playoffs, but the next few games, we can’t take that easy,” All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau said. “We can still finish first, so we’ve got to work hard and play these games like they’re playoff games.”

Nonetheless, Tuesday was a historic day for the Panthers.

They tied the franchise for shots on goal with 55.

Huberdeau and star forward Aleksander Barkov — the two best players and faces of the franchise — combined for eight points.

Florida’s comeback was its sixth of the season after trailing at the end of the second period — tied for the most in the league — and the Panthers finished it off by turning to rookie Spencer Knight, who was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and made his debut just a week earlier after playing for the Boston College Eagles last month.

Knight stopped all nine shots he faced in the third, playing in relief of fellow goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who coughed up four goals on 21 shots and left the Panthers in a 4-3 hole at the end of the second.

“He’s got that swagger,” Vatrano said.

At the end of the second period, Florida was outshooting the Predators, 42-21, but trailing. Bobrovsky gave up a goal on the first shot he faced — a long slap shot by Ryan Ellis — then gave up another on the first shot he saw in the second.

He gave up a go-ahead goal to Nashville left wing Tanner Jeannot off a long rebound, then gave up another to Ellis after the Panthers lost track of the Predators defenseman for an easy slap shot. When the third period began, Knight was standing between the pipes in Bobrovsky’s place, in front of a hostile crowd at Bridgestone Arena.

“We all felt that was the right thing,” Quenneville said.

The comeback began with a scrum around the net, and right wing Owen Tippett knocked home the game-tying goal with 15:03 left after Huberdeau and versatile forward Sam Bennett both took whacks at the loose puck.

Less than two minutes later, Vatrano delivered the game-winner with 12:45 left. After piling up 40 shots and scoring just one goal Monday, Florida finally cracked Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros by peppering him with 54 shots in the finale of a two-game series in Tennessee.

With chance to clinch playoff spot, Panthers lose game (and Chris Driedger) in Nashville

Huberdeau added insurance with a power-play goal with 6:12 remaining, off assists by Barkov and Bennett, and clinched the win against the Panthers (27-22-2) on an empty-net goal with 1:37 left.

While Bobrovsky’s performance was unnerving, the offensive effort was complete. Florida went 3 of 5 on the power play, scoring multiple power-play goals for the first time in more than a month. Bennett, who arrived in a deal just before the trade deadline April 12, notched a season-high three points and now has 10 in seven games as a Panther.

“In the third, we came out really hard,” Huberdeau said. “I was proud of the guys. Everybody showed up and we played hard, and it just showed that we play that way and we came out with a big win.”

When Florida took Huberdeau with the No. 3 pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, it made him the first piece in a new foundation. The Panthers took Barkov with the No. 3 pick two years later, then defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the top pick in 2014. Together, they led Florida to the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs and the Panthers had a young core they expected to ride for years.

For half a decade, those expectations never materialized until this year. Finally, Florida is back.

“We’ve been through a lot. I’ve been here nine years,” Huberdeau said. “We have a lot of fans that’s been loyal to us and didn’t have much to cheer for. ... Now this year, it’s going to be more fun.”