What Went Wrong: Panthers Swept Out of Elite Eight by Back-to-Back Champs

The Presidents' Trophy claims another victim, as the Florida Panthers became the first casualty of this year's Division Finals. This was an absolute dream season for the Panthers. 58 wins, 122 points, and their first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history. They were definitely expected to go very far, but they had to do something they hadn't done since 1996: win a playoff series. It was tough, but the Panthers did it, winning a six-game opening round over the Washington Capitals, with Carter Verhaeghe's OT winner (his second of the series) ending the 26-year itch.

The win and the Tampa Bay Lightning's seven-game victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs set up the 2nd straight Battle of Florida playoff series, and it really looked like the Panthers were definitely ready to avenge their loss to the Lightning in the opening round last year. However, there was just one big thing that really hampered the team: the Panthers' power play. Have you seen the Panthers' power play? I'm asking if anyone's seen it around, because it's clearly missing.

To say the Panthers' power play was abysmal in this year's playoffs would be an understatement. The Panthers entered the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the top five on the power play. During the playoffs? One power play goal in 31 opportunities. You read that right: ONE POWER PLAY GOAL! Florida's only power play marker was scored in Game Three of the series against Tampa Bay, and it was Sam Reinhart who put it in on the team's overall 26th try. The goal was one of three from Reinhart in 10 games, which brings me to another thing: their offense. The Panthers led the league in scoring; the only team to average four goals per game. They only scored 23 goals in 10 games, and only scored three goals in the series against Tampa Bay. Yikes.

Verhaeghe was the overall leader with 12 points--6 goals and 6 assists, and scoring both of their OT goals. He was the only Panther to average a point per game; the newly acquired Claude Giroux had 8 points (3 G/5 A), and Aleksander Barkov had 7 points (2 G/5 A). The four aforementioned players are the only ones to score more than once for the Panthers; even Jonathan Huberdeau--who reached the century mark in points this season--only scored once. As for goaltending, Sergei Bobrovsky went 4-6 with a .911 SV% and a 2.70 GAA. Those aren't bad numbers, meaning that the high-powered offense totally shut down for him.

In all of this, the player I feel for the most is Joe Thornton. The main known by many as "Jumbo Joe" was drafted all the way back in 1997, one of only two players in any of the main leagues who were drafted back in the 1990s (the other is Zdeno Chara, who could be hanging it up). His appearance in Game Four was his 1,901st game, and that is the second most amount of games played (regular season and playoffs) without winning the Stanley Cup; trailing his former Sharks teammate Patrick Marleau. It's a shame that a player who has been in nearly 2,000 games overall hasn't even won one single Cup. In fact, his only Cup Final appearance came in 2016 with the Sharks. We do not know what Thornton's future holds, but chances are, this could be it for Jumbo Joe. If it is, then it's been an amazing career, but again, it's a shame that his name won't be on the Stanley Cup.

As for the Panthers overall, they have to wonder what they have to do to get to that next level. While they did win a series for the first time in 26 years, their skid of winning second-round games continues. Their amazing season has resulted in Andrew Brunette being a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy, and one has to think that they are just one or two pieces away from being champions. A trivial note: this is the seventh straight year that the Presidents' Trophy winner failed to make it past the 2nd round, and that includes the horrendous collapse by the Lightning in 2019. Once again, the trophy claims another victim.

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