Florida Panthers embracing home field advantage. And Aleksander Barkov out vs Oilers
During his first stint with the Florida Panthers, Dmitry Kulikov saw what it was like to play hockey in South Florida when the franchise was at its lowest.
The defenseman played with Panthers from the 2009-2010 season to 2015-2016, a seven-year stretch that included five years with Florida as one of the worst teams in the NHL and two years with first-round exits from the playoffs.
“We had nights where like 5,000 people showed up when I started playing here,” Kulikov said.
Things have changed since then. The Panthers winning on home ice and establishing themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL has helped create a steady uptick in attendance numbers.
“To consistently have a full building,” Kulikov said during Florida’s first homestand of the season, “is great to see.”
Florida is 6-1-0 at home this season entering Monday’s 7 p.m. game vs Edmonton, the first of a three-game homestand that continues 7 p.m. Wednesday against the Boston Bruins and 8 p.m. Friday against the Winnipeg Jets.
Through those first seven games, Florida has had an average attendance of 17,664 at Amerant Bank Arena, which has a listed capacity of 19,250 for hockey games. Two of those seven games were sellouts. The Panthers had 19,288 in the building for their home opener on Oct. 19 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a 3-1 win, and 19,359 for their 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 12 — a Sunday afternoon game. There have been more than 16,000 at every game so far.
“It’s a good place for us,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “The building is good and the crowds are good. There’s no away fans now, it’s all Panther fans, and you can feel it. We’re hopeful we keep building it, but the fans will drive your hockey team during part of the year, you get fatigued and you get behind it a little bit, and having your home crowd there is a real advantage.”
The home-ice advantage has been building since last season when Florida made its improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers went 23-13-5 at home during the regular season in 2022-23 and then followed up by winning five of their nine home playoff games — including a pair of overtime thrillers. They averaged 19,781 fans per home playoff game after averaging 16,682 fans per game during the regular season.
“The fans here are incredible,” forward Sam Bennett said. “They showed it all last season with the support, and it’s rolled over to this year. We love playing in this building in front of these fans.”
Aleksander Barkov out against Edmonton
Panthers captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov will not play against the Oilers on Monday and is being listed as day-to-day. He left Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks 57 seconds into the third period after knee-to-knee contact with Ducks rookie defenseman Jackson LaCombe.
“It was direct on the knee,” Maurice said of the hit. “It was soft tissue. It wasn’t a bone bruise. We got lucky. We just got lucky with it because those are dangerous, dangerous plays.”
In Barkov’s absence, Anton Lundell is slated to center Florida’s top line against Edmonton with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart on the wings.
Barkov entered Monday tied with Matthew Tkachuk for second on the team with 17 points (six goals, 11 assists). He is also part of Florida’s top power play unit and a key player on the Panthers’ penalty kill.
Maurice said more updates on Barkov’s status are expected throughout this week.
“Every day he comes in, you check the swelling, you check the strength, you check the range of motion,” Maurice said. “It gets better fast or it plateaus. That’s what extends these things. If it got to a certain point, we could back-date the IR and bring somebody in. Right now, we won’t.”
