The State of Hockey: Tampa owns the week, and the cats' power play owes one

I'll say this once and then go rinse my mouth out: the best hockey team in Florida this week plays in Tampa. The Lightning won three straight. The cats split two, lost Brad Marchand for six weeks and scored one goal in their home opener.

My verdict: don't panic about the record, panic about the power play. Florida is 1 for 28 with the man advantage, by our count. Buffalo, this afternoon's opponent, kills 62.5 percent of its penalties, and Vancouver, Thursday's, kills 52. If the power play doesn't wake up this week, it's not a slump anymore.

The cats

The record is 2-1-2. Tuesday the Panthers beat the Kings 2-1 on Matthew Tkachuk's third-period winner. Saturday they lost the home opener 4-1 to Minnesota and a Kirill Kaprizov hat trick, in front of 19,856.

The game that mattered was Los Angeles, for the wrong reason. Marchand went into the post late in the second period, and by Friday the word was six weeks. Maurice's plan is three weeks off the ice and three weeks back on it. Aleksander Barkov is at six to eight weeks with no surgery, so both are late-November problems.

Who's rolling: Tkachuk has a point in four straight games and three of Florida's nine goals, by our count. Jacob Markstrom has a .917 save percentage and a 1.70 goals-against average in four starts. Seth Jones is eating 26.8 minutes a night.

Aaron Ekblad came back and played game 807, the most in franchise history. The kid drafted first overall in 2014 stayed through the empty nights in Sunrise, and now nobody has worn this sweater more.

Who owes the room a better week: Sam Reinhart plays 21.6 minutes a night and has no points in five games, per NHL data. Brady Tkachuk has none either, on 12 shots. Five games is still a small sample, but the power play runs through those two now. Marcus has why it's structural.

The other leak is the dot, where Minnesota won 43 of 68 faceoffs on Saturday, and a team without Barkov starts too many shifts chasing the puck.

Buffalo is this afternoon at 1, and the preview has the lines. Columbus is Tuesday at 6:15, before Vancouver on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday come to Sunrise. I called three points from this road trip, and I'm keeping it.

Across the bay

Tampa is 4-1-0 and has won four straight, including this week's 4-1 over Philadelphia, 3-2 over Minnesota and 5-3 at the Islanders.

Brandon Hagel did the damage on Long Island with a hat trick and an assist. He scored the winner with 1:44 left and hit the empty net 21 seconds later. "I think the goalie stood on his head," Hagel said, and Andrei Vasilevskiy did stop all nine shots in the third for career win 373.

Thursday was about depth. John Carlson scored twice, his first goals as a Bolt, and Dennis Hildeby made 34 saves in his first start for them. Carlson's second ended an 0-for-14 start on the power play.

Nikita Kucherov has a point in all five games and eight overall, per NHL data, while the power play is only 2 for 20, by our count. They're winning without it, which is the annoying part.

Next up, the Lightning are at the Rangers on Tuesday, then home for Seattle on Thursday and Vancouver on Saturday.

The Estero line

The preseason is over, and the Everblades split two with Orlando at Hertz Arena, winning 7-0 on Thursday and losing 2-1 in overtime on Friday.

Thursday had six different scorers. Isaac Nurse scored twice, Devon Paliani scored 24 seconds in, and Roddy Ross and Tyriq Outen combined to stop all 17 shots. On Friday, Jack Horbach scored for the second straight night before Dyllan Gill won it for the Solar Bears.

Two more forwards came down from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Max Graham had 24 points in 66 games as a rookie in Wheeling last year, and Tiernan Shoudy is a Michigan State product starting his rookie season.

The read: exhibition scores don't count, but a lineup with six scorers in one night gives Brad Ralph a good problem, which is deciding who sits.

Saturday is the one that counts. Orlando is at Hertz Arena at 7, and the 2026 Kelly Cup banner goes up first. The rematch is Sunday in Orlando at 5. Team page.

Up the road

Orlando leaves Estero with a split and sees the Blades twice more to open the real season.

Jacksonville lost its exhibition 7-4 to Savannah at the Igloo. The Icemen open at home Friday against South Carolina, then go to Savannah on Saturday.

Campus to Sunrise

UCF still hasn't lost. The Knights won 6-1 at Middle Tennessee on Friday with five goals in the third period, three of them in 71 seconds. Beckham Bouffard had a hat trick and Christian Hubert stopped 32 of 33. Box score. UCF is 4-0-0 in M3 College Hockey South.

Florida Gulf Coast got the test I asked for and split it. Lindenwood won Friday's game 5-3. The Eagles took Saturday's 4-3 on two goals from Cole Bauman and a third-period winner from Brendan Sly.

FGCU was outshot 74-46 over the two nights, and Mason DeCaire, who stopped 31 of 34 on Saturday, is the reason it's a split. The Eagles are 6-3-0. Their M3 team lost 4-2 to Farmingdale State on Sunday. Box score.

Tampa had a long weekend in Virginia. Liberty won 9-2 on Friday and 8-2 on Saturday. The Spartans are 4-3-0 and still first in M2 College Hockey South. Against that level, they're not there yet.

The rest of the weekend hasn't posted scores, and the Florida hub will have them when it does.

The one game to see next: UCF at FAU, Friday and Saturday at 7 at Boca Ice (Friday, Saturday). An unbeaten team walks into an in-state barn twice.

State rankings

My ranking, my rules, argue below: every Florida team with a posted result, ordered by how its week went.

1. Lightning (3-0-0): Three wins, a hat trick and a backup who stopped 34. It hurts to type.

2. UCF (1-0): Six goals on the road and still unbeaten.

3. Florida Gulf Coast (1-1): Outshot both nights and still earned a split with a good Lindenwood team.

4. Panthers (1-1-0): A gutsy win in Los Angeles, a flat home opener and a power play on mute.

5. Everblades (1-0-1, preseason): Seven goals one night, one the next. It's October.

6. Solar Bears (1-1, preseason): Took a 7-0 loss and answered with an overtime win in the same building.

7. FGCU's M3 team (0-1): Hung with Farmingdale State and lost by two.

8. Icemen (0-1, preseason): Four goals should win an exhibition. Seven against says otherwise.

9. Tampa (0-2): Outscored 17-4 at Liberty. Burn the tape.

The state of the state

Florida hockey has two stars in street clothes until late November and a rival that can't lose. The state runs through Tampa until the cats' power play says otherwise.

Next week in Florida: Panthers at Buffalo today at 1 and at Columbus on Tuesday at 6:15, then home for Vancouver on Thursday at 7 and Seattle on Saturday at 6. The Lightning visit the Rangers on Tuesday at 7:15, then host Seattle on Thursday at 7 and Vancouver on Saturday at 4.

The Everblades raise a banner Saturday against Orlando and visit the Solar Bears on Sunday. Jacksonville opens Friday at home.

On campus, UCF is at FAU both weekend nights. Montana State visits FGCU Friday and Saturday, and Alabama is at Florida's M2 team at the Igloo Friday and Saturday.