The State of Hockey: Estero is perfect and Sunrise is in the penalty box
The Everblades swept Atlanta to stay unbeaten, the Panthers were outscored 9-1 before Eller's winner, and Kucherov took the Lightning record in an overtime loss.
Florida hockey had one team that won every game it played this week, and it plays in Estero. The Panthers got outscored 9-1 on a two-game trip and needed a late Lars Eller goal to come home with anything, and the Lightning lost twice out west on the week Kucherov took the franchise record.
My verdict: the Everblades are the state's team of the month so far, and the Panthers' penalty box is the state's biggest problem.
The cats
Florida went 1-2-0 and sits at 14 points through 12 games. The week started with the Brady Tkachuk homecoming, a 5-1 loss in Ottawa where the cats took 44 penalty minutes and chased a grudge instead of a game.
The next night was a 4-0 loss in Pittsburgh on the back half of a back-to-back, Cooper Black's debut wasted by a power play that went 0-for-4.
Sunday they beat Chicago 3-2. Vilmanis and Eller scored their first goals of the season, Matthew Tkachuk tipped in a power-play goal and the kill went 7-for-7, including two stretches of 5-on-3.
The game that mattered was Chicago, because losing it would have made the trip a crisis. Winning it made it a bad week.
The number that tells the story: Florida has been shorthanded more than any team in the league, 46 times in 11 games before Sunday, by our count, and then took seven more penalties at the United Center. The kill is at 84.9 percent, per NHL data, which is the only reason that habit hasn't buried them yet.
One more, for the people who bet on this team: Florida is 2-9 against the puck line this season, by our count, including 1-7 on the road. The margins haven't matched the money. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Who's rolling: Seth Jones, 12 points and 24.9 minutes a night, per NHL data, and the only Panther who played all three games like the standings mattered. Brady Tkachuk has seven goals on 39 shots. Matthew Tkachuk leads the team with 16 points, and Sunday's tip was his first goal in seven games.
Who owes the room a better week: Eetu Luostarinen has gone 10 games without a point at 16.0 minutes a night, per NHL data. Sam Bennett has 30 shots and six points and nothing in his last three. The second line isn't a second line right now.
The week ahead is a home-and-home with Winnipeg: Tuesday at 8 in Winnipeg, Friday at 7 in Sunrise. The Jets traded Hellebuyck on Friday and lost the Heritage Classic Sunday. There is no excuse for a split.
Across the bay
Tampa went 1-1-1 on a western trip, and the one win was the loud one: 6-2 in Vegas on Tuesday. Then Colorado scored six on Friday and Utah won 5-4 in overtime Saturday.
The overtime loss is the one everybody will remember, because it's the night Kucherov passed Stamkos for the franchise points record. He got to 1,138 in 890 games. Stamkos needed 1,082 for 1,137. I said on Saturday that he's the best player Florida hockey has ever had to plan against, and I'm not taking it back on Monday.
The Lightning are 15 points through 11 games, a perfect 5-0 at home and 2-3 on the road, per NHL data. The kill is at 76.7 percent and the power play is still at 15.0 percent, per NHL data, so Cooper has two problems on the road.
They get Winnipeg at home Thursday at 7, then Nashville on Saturday at 2. Stamkos plays for Nashville. That's the game.
The Estero line:
The Everblades swept Atlanta at Hertz Arena and are 4-0-0, tied for the top of the South Division at eight points with South Carolina and Greenville. Friday was a 5-0 shutout: Maleek McGowan had a goal and two assists, Cam Johnson stopped all 17, and Mark Senden's power-play goal came with an assist from Johnson, because of course it did.
Saturday was the 4-2 comeback. Atlanta led 2-0 early in the second, and then Devon Paliani scored three straight, two of them 77 seconds apart in the third. Natural hat trick, in the Blades' own barn, on a night they trailed. Horbach added the empty-netter.
The player who drove it is the goalie. Johnson has started all four games and allowed four goals, by our count of the league's box scores. Paliani has four goals in two nights and is the name to watch.
The week: at Orlando Wednesday at 7, then two in Greenville, Friday at 7:05 and Saturday at 2:05. Greenville, one of the two teams tied with them, is on that schedule twice.
The rest of the ECHL in Florida
Orlando lost 5-3 to South Carolina at home Saturday and is 0-3-0, the only pointless team in the division. The Blades come to town Wednesday, and Jacksonville visits Friday.
Jacksonville is still looking for its first win: a 3-2 overtime loss in Greenville Friday and a 2-0 loss in Savannah Saturday. The Icemen are 0-2-1-1, and they get Atlanta at home Saturday at 3.
Campus to Sunrise:
Tampa's D2 team swept Florida Gulf Coast at Hertz Arena, and the games were as good as I said they'd be. Friday was 4-3: FGCU's Aidan Dufort tied it shorthanded at 14:30 of the third, and Benjamin Cleary won it for Tampa at 17:29. Michael Schmelzer scored twice.
Saturday was 6-5 in a shootout. Tampa led 5-3 early in the third, FGCU came back on goals from Trey Wandall, Zack Comilla and a shorthanded one from Shayne Tomlinson, and Michael Del Trecco held the fort for Tampa through the extra session. Ten goals through regulation, a shorthanded one each night, and the home team lost both.
Tampa is back from an 0-2 trip to Middle Tennessee with a sweep. FGCU is 2-1-1 after the Montana State weekend and still the best crowd in the state's college game.
Lynn's D3 games at Northwestern hadn't posted scores by Monday morning; I'll catch them up when the feed does.
The one game to see next: UCLA at Miami, Friday at 8 at Miami Ice Arena, with the rematch Saturday at 3. A West Coast club in Kendall on a Friday night is the kind of thing this league does that nobody else can.
State rankings:
My ranking, by the week each team had. Argue with it.
- Everblades (2-0-0): a shutout, a natural hat trick and a share of first.
- Tampa men's D2 (2-0): a road sweep at Hertz Arena, both by a goal.
- Lightning (1-1-1): a record, a rout in Vegas and two loud losses.
- Panthers (1-2-0): outscored 9-1 on the trip, then one late goal in Chicago.
- FGCU men's D2 (0-1-1): came back from 5-3 down and lost the shootout.
- Jacksonville Icemen (0-1-1): a point in Greenville, nothing in Savannah.
- Orlando Solar Bears (0-1-0): three goals, five against, still looking for a point.
The state of the state
Florida hockey is fine, and the Panthers are not. The Lightning have a record-holder, the Everblades have the best goalie in the ECHL right now, and the college kids filled Hertz Arena two nights in a row.
The cats have a captain and a starting goalie out and a penalty habit that will cost them a playoff spot in April if it lasts into December. The home-and-home with Winnipeg is where that changes or doesn't.
Next week in Florida: Panthers at Winnipeg Tuesday 8, Winnipeg at Panthers Friday 7. Winnipeg at Lightning Thursday 7, Lightning at Nashville Saturday 2.
Everblades at Orlando Wednesday 7, at Greenville Friday 7:05 and Saturday 2:05. Icemen at Orlando Friday 7, Atlanta at Icemen Saturday 3.
College: Florida at Georgia in D2 Friday 7; Towson at FAU at Boca Ice Friday and Saturday at 7; Tampa at South Carolina Friday 8:30 and Saturday 1; UCLA at Miami Friday 8 and Saturday 3; USF at Embry-Riddle Friday 7, with the return at AdventHealth Center Ice Sunday at 2.
