The State of Hockey: Sunrise scores ten, Tampa loses Kucherov's signature
The Panthers swept Winnipeg with a power play that finally works, Kucherov asked out across the bay, and the Everblades' perfect start ended with a shutout.
Florida hockey's best player asked out of Florida this week, and the team across Alligator Alley from him put ten goals on Winnipeg in a week. The Panthers went 2-0 and the power play finally looks like a power play. The Lightning went 1-0-1 and lost Kucherov's signature.
My verdict: this was the week the state flipped. Sunrise is rolling, Tampa is in a holding pattern, and the cats get Detroit and Chicago at home before the Lightning do.
The cats
Florida went 2-0-0, both against Winnipeg, and sits at 18 points through 14 games, per NHL data, on a three-game win streak. Tuesday was a 5-1 trip closer where the power play went 3-for-5 and Verhaeghe and the Tkachuks did the scoring. Friday was Anton Lundell's hat trick, a 5-2 win where the man-advantage went 2-for-5 again.
The game that mattered was Friday. Florida has played nine of 14 on the road, by our count, and the building hadn't had a night like that yet.
The number that tells the story: the power play. It was 1-for-28 through five games and has gone 15-for-38 since Oct. 12, 5-for-10 this week, by our count. Same five guys, same entries, different puck.
For the people who bet on this team: Florida covered the puck line both nights, which gets the season record to 4-9, by our count, after a 2-9 start. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Who's rolling: Seth Jones, 18 points and 24.9 minutes a night, per NHL data, with a three-point night Friday. Lundell has four goals, three of them in one game. Matthew Tkachuk leads the team with 20 points, 16 of them assists.
Who owes the room a better week: Sam Bennett. Five games without a point at 17.7 minutes, per NHL data, and his ice time dropped 6.5 minutes to 12.7 in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Barkov and Marchand are weeks away. Bennett needs to be the center he was in June until then.
The week ahead: Detroit tonight at 7, Chicago Wednesday at 7:30, then Saturday at noon-thirty in Washington. Detroit arrives with Larkin suspended and a 68.9 percent kill, per NHL data. Two home games against two teams in a mess. Take all four points or don't tell me about the standings.
Across the bay
Tampa had the week nobody saw coming. Thursday they beat Winnipeg 6-4, four goals in the second period, Holmberg with four points. Friday Kucherov told the team he won't re-sign and wants a trade.
Saturday in Nashville they led three times and lost 5-4 in a shootout. Stamkos tied it on the power play and won it in the skills contest. Kucherov had three assists in that one.
He's the best player Florida hockey has ever had to plan against, and now he's told Tampa he's done planning with them. The GM said he has no intention of trading him. The player has 18 points in 13 games, per NHL data, and a 10-team trade list.
The Lightning are 18 points through 13 games, 6-0 at home and 2-3 on the road, per NHL data. Vasilevskiy is at .877, .870 over his last five starts, per NHL data. That's the part of Tampa's season that doesn't go away in July, and Gord has the whole file this morning.
They get Detroit Tuesday at 7 and Chicago Thursday at 7, then Minnesota and Winnipeg on the road over the weekend. Same two visitors as Sunrise, one night later each. The state gets a measuring stick.
The Estero line:
The Everblades are no longer perfect, and they're fine. Friday in Greenville was a 5-4 loss: the Swamp Rabbits scored three in a 5:31 stretch of the second, Florida came all the way back to tie it on Isaac Nurse's goal, and Blake Bennett's second won it.
Saturday afternoon was the answer: a 2-0 shutout, Nurse at 18:42 of the first, Max Graham into the empty net, and Cam Johnson stopping all 21. Florida outshot them 39-21.
The Blades are 5-1-0-0 and second in the South at 10 points, behind Greenville's 12 in two more games. Devon Paliani leads them with five goals. Johnson has started all six. He's the reason that split felt like a sweep.
The week: three straight at Jacksonville, Friday and Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 3. A division rival three times in three days in their barn. That's the ECHL in November, and it's the best test on their schedule so far.
The rest of the ECHL in Florida
Jacksonville finally won, and then did it again. A 3-2 overtime win in Orlando Friday and a 4-3 overtime win over Atlanta at home Saturday put the Icemen at 2-2-1-1, fourth in the South. Two extra-time wins in two nights before the Everblades come to town is how you make a rivalry weekend matter.
Orlando is 0-3-1-0 and got its first point in that overtime loss to Jacksonville. The Solar Bears host Atlanta Tuesday and go to South Carolina for two over the weekend.
Campus to Sunrise:
The weekend's Florida college scores hadn't posted to the league's feed by Monday morning. Florida at Georgia, UCLA's two in Kendall, USF at Embry-Riddle and Towson at FAU all still show as scheduled, and I don't write box scores I haven't seen. I'll catch them up as the feed fills in.
The standings say this about where the state sits: Tampa is 4-1 and on top of the M2 South group, FGCU is 4-2 on a four-game run as an independent, Florida is 2-1 in the Southeastern group behind South Carolina, and USF is 3-2 with three straight in M3 South. Lynn is 2-1.
Next weekend is the in-state weekend. FAU's D2 team goes to FGCU Friday and Saturday at 8:30, USF visits Miami in D3 Friday at 8 and Saturday at 2, Lynn plays at UCF both nights at 9, and Florida State's women visit USF Saturday at 8:15 in the developing-program group.
The one game to see next: FAU at FGCU, Friday at 8:30 at Hertz Arena. Two Florida D2 programs, one of them the best crowd in the state's college game, in the barn the Everblades just left for the weekend.
State rankings:
My ranking, by the week each team had. Argue with it.
- Panthers (2-0-0): 10 goals on Winnipeg, 5-for-10 on the power play, a hat trick in Sunrise.
- Jacksonville Icemen (2-0-0): two overtime wins in two nights, the first wins of the year.
- Everblades (1-1-0): a late collapse Friday, a 39-shot shutout Saturday.
- Lightning (1-0-1): four second-period goals Thursday, three blown leads Saturday, and the MVP asked out in between.
- Orlando Solar Bears (0-0-1): the first point of the season, in overtime, at home.
The state of the state
For the first time this season, the Panthers are the best story in Florida hockey and the Lightning are the worst one. The cats have a power play, a healthy Jones, and the captain skating again. Tampa has a 6-0 home record, a goalie at .877 and a winger with one foot out the door.
The Everblades are a goalie and a split from the top of their division. The Icemen woke up. The college kids play each other all weekend.
Next week in Florida: Detroit at Panthers tonight 7, Chicago at Panthers Wednesday 7:30, Panthers at Washington Saturday 12:30. Detroit at Lightning Tuesday 7, Chicago at Lightning Thursday 7, Lightning at Minnesota Saturday 8, Lightning at Winnipeg Sunday 6.
Everblades at Jacksonville Friday 7, Saturday 7 and Sunday 3. Atlanta at Orlando Tuesday, Orlando at South Carolina Friday and Saturday.
College: FAU at FGCU in D2 Friday and Saturday 8:30; USF at Miami in D3 Friday 8 and Saturday 2; Lynn at UCF Friday and Saturday 9; FAU's D3 team at FGCU Friday and Saturday 6; Tampa's D2 team at Lindenwood Friday and Saturday; Florida State women at USF Saturday 8:15.
