The Panthers aren't overrated. They just keep going to the box

Everybody walked out of Columbus talking about the Tkachuks, and they should. Nine points between two brothers is a night you frame.

But the number I kept staring at Wednesday morning was two. That's how many times Florida went to the box against the Blue Jackets. It's the first time all season the cats played a game like the team we know.

The Panthers have 99 penalty minutes through seven games, the most in the NHL, by our count. They've been shorthanded 29 times, third-most in the league. And they've given up seven power-play goals on those kills, a 75.9 percent penalty kill, per NHL data.

That's not a team that forgot how to play. That's a team that keeps handing the other guys the puck and a free man.

The box score of the box

Here's how many times the Panthers were shorthanded, game by game, by our count:

6 against Carolina, 4 against San Jose, 4 against Anaheim, 5 against Los Angeles, 3 against Minnesota, 5 against Buffalo, 2 against Columbus.

The losses line up with the busy nights. Anaheim scored three power-play goals in a 3-2 game. Buffalo scored two in a 5-3 game. Against Minnesota, the cats took 25 penalty minutes and scored one goal. You can't kill your way back into a game you keep leaving.

Garnet Hathaway leads the team with 19 penalty minutes. Bokondji Imama has 12, Dmitry Kulikov 10, Brady Tkachuk 9. Some of that is the job description. A fourth-liner who answers the bell for a teammate is doing a Ferda thing, and I'll defend that guy every time. A lazy stick in the neutral zone is not that.

Why it matters more right now

This would be annoying in a normal October. Without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand, it's dangerous. Barkov is out until late November and Marchand is on IR. Barkov is the best penalty-killing center in the world when he's healthy, and he's not walking through that door for six weeks.

So the kill has to be shorter, not better. Every two minutes in the box is two minutes of Lundell, Bennett and the third pair doing Barkov's job.

I've watched this franchise through the empty-barn years, when a power-play goal against felt like a coin flip. This group isn't that. But the "did we overrate Florida" crowd got loud fast this month, and the penalty minutes are the honest reason why. It's not age. It's not the Cup hangover. It's the box.

What Columbus showed

Tuesday was the blueprint. Florida drew six power plays and was shorthanded twice, and the result was 7-3 with Akira Schmid making 24 saves. Matthew Tkachuk ran the power play with five assists. The Panthers went 4-for-6 with the man advantage, and it felt easy because they weren't spending half the night killing.

The cats don't have to stop being heavy. They have to stop being late.

Lineup watch

Vancouver comes to Sunrise on Thursday, then Seattle on Saturday. Two home games, a chance to stack wins before the road gets long. The penalty count against Vancouver is the stat I'd watch over any goal total. Keep it at three or under and the Panthers win more of these than they lose.

Pabs' read: The Panthers aren't overrated. They've been undisciplined. One of those you fix with a trade. The other you fix in the room, and that's the good news.