Trailing 2-1 in the second period against red-hot Buffalo on Friday night, Panthers coach Bob Boughner shuffled his forward lines in search of a spark, moving Jonathan Huberdeau back up to the team's top line to play alongside Aleksander Barkov for the first time since last season.
"We're just moving guys around, trying to find some offense. … Huby has that past connection with Barkov and that chemistry," Boughner said. "It was something talked about in the past couple of days. We're trying different things every night."
The move certainly paid off for the Panthers, as the top-line duo pick up right where they left off, showcasing their immense chemistry in overtime when Huberdeau threaded the needle through the legs of a defender to set up Barkov for the game-winning goal in a 3-2 win over the Sabres.
With the win, Florida (10-10-4) improved to 2-1-1 on its current eight-game homestand.
"I haven't played with Barky in a while, and that's just fun to be back with him," Huberdeau said after the game. "We'll see what happens. He's one of the best in the league, such a great player. It's always fun to play with a guy like that. We talked on the bench how we were a little rusty, but if we play again, it will only get better and better."
In three seasons together from 2015-18, Barkov and Huberdeau were one of the league's most-exciting tandems, sharing the ice for 1,625:16 at 5-on-5 over 164 games played. In that time, they posted strong possession metrics, including a 51.46 CF%, 53.26 SF% and a 60.54 GF%.
Barkov said he expects to see more ice time with Huberdeau this season.
"For sure we're going to use it again," said Barkov, who has tallied nine goals and 22 points in 24 games to go along with his Selke-worthy defense. "It's fun to play with that type of guy who thinks about the game the same way."
Even before being bumped back up to the top line with Barkov, no Panther was hotter than Huberdeau, who has nine points over his last four games. With two assists against Buffalo, he became the first player in franchise history to register at least two assists in four straight games.
Huberdeau, 25, leads the team in points (26), while his 21 assists are tied for 11th in the league.
"Right now, we're feeling confident," Barkov said. "Hopefully we're going to have the same effort tomorrow."
The Lightning (18-7-1) enter tonight's contest sitting atop the Atlantic Division after winning six of their last eight games. This will be the third time this season the Panthers have clashed with Tampa, with the Lightning coming away victorious in each of the two previous meetings thus far.
Led by Nikita Kucherov (35 points) and Brayden Point (33 points), Tampa's offense is currently tied with Colorado for the best in the league, averaging 3.73 goals per game. That said, Florida isn't far behind in the scoring department, averaging 3.21 goals per game for 10th in the league.
Florida hasn't lost the second game of a back-to-back in regulation this season, going 3-0-2.
"We know [against] a team like that you've got to play your best," Boughner said of the Bolts. "We've got to have a game similar to tonight where we're tight defensively. They're probably a little more rested than us, but that's OK. We've played there twice already, so we're looking forward to playing them at home."
