Panthers eager to 'come back stronger' after step forward in 2021-22

SUNRISE, Fla. - Taking both the good with the bad, Anton Lundell probably summed it up best.
"A year we're all going to remember," the Panthers rookie said.
On Wednesday, the Cats cleaned out their lockers at FLA Live Arena. Following a historic regular season, the somber day had arrived much earlier than expected. And less than three days removed from being swept out of the playoffs in the second round by the cross-state rival Lightning, that sting was still fresh.

But as much as the abrupt end to their promising postseason run shined a light on what the Panthers still need to do in order to take that next step forward to contending for a Stanley Cup, the heights they reached during the regular season instilled a new collective confidence in what they're capable of.
The season might be over, but this team is far from done.
"That's really good, but obviously right now we didn't reach the main goal," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said while reflecting on the team's Presidents' Trophy-winning campaign. "That's disappointing for us. That's the thing that keeps us thinking about what we can do better as a group and as individuals.
"We have the whole summer to get better and then come back and be ready to go again. We learned a lot during these few years that we made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We played against good teams like Tampa and Washington. We learned a lot from them. We learned the little things we need to do better."
Setting franchise records for both wins (58) and points (122), the Panthers took the NHL by storm during the regular season. Scoring at a higher rate than any team in the league, the organization's diverse and deep lineup combined for a whopping 337 goals, which were 25 more than the next team below them.
Filling up the scoresheet at will, more than a dozen players achieved new career-high point totals, including Jonathan Huberdeau (115), Sam Reinhart (82), Anthony Duclair (58) and Aaron Ekblad (57).
Unfortunately, those goals dried up against the Lightning. After dispatching the Capitals in six games in Round 1 to win their first playoff series since 1996, the Panthers mustered just three goals in four games against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, including being shut out in the series-deciding Game 4.
While a lot of credit has to be given to Andrei Vasilevskiy and his otherworldly performance between the pipes for the Bolts, the Panthers believe much of the series came down to all the little details - blocking shots, winning battles, and other seemingly small areas of the game that add up to affect the end result.
After losing to the Lightning in Round 1 last season, the Panthers took what they learned and turned it into a dominant regular season and their first playoff series win in nearly three decades. Following this latest defeat to Tampa Bay, the hope is these new lessons will lead to an even deeper run next season.
"It'll probably be healthy to watch those games and see the difference," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said when asked about the takeaways from the series. "When you rewatch them, you'll see what you need to learn. I think that'll be important. You've got to go through it again and handle it the right way. You can talk about it and be excited about it, but it doesn't mean a lot until you do it."
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Oddly enough, the last team to win the Presidents Trophy only to be swept out of the playoffs was the Lightning, who dropped four straight games to the Blue Jackets in Round 1 in 2019. Fueled by that early exit, they then went on to win each of the last two Stanley Cups, and could soon make it three straight.
If you look at the journey of any champion, the path to success is rarely without roadblocks. I know that doesn't lessen the sting of how this season ended for the Panthers, but the trials and tribulations that the Lightning endured before reaching the top of the mountain are certainly worth taking a closer look at.
In the six seasons leading up to their back-to-back Stanley Cups, they lost in the first round twice, the Eastern Conference Final twice, the Stanley Cup Final once, and even missed the playoffs in 2016-17.
"We know the history," Barkov said. "We know that year when they got swept against Columbus and then came back and won two straight and now they're still in it. They work really hard. They have a great team. We learned a lot from them during these two years, playing against them a lot. Even in the regular season we play against them a lot. In the playoffs, we saw] the way they do those little things."
At the same time, the Panthers don't necessarily view their cross-state rival's path as a blueprint.
In order to take that next step, they know they have to do it their own way.
"We want to be ourselves," Barkov said. "We don't want to be anybody else. We don't want to be like them. We want to be Panthers. We have our own game, our own players and we want to win here. We keep building. Even though the season's over, we'll keep building, get better and come back stronger."
As for the immediate future, it's not time to turn the page just yet.
"The gear's still wet," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said.
Only just starting to slow down a bit after moving at a frantic pace ever since the puck dropped back in October, Zito said the next step for the organization is to "take a little bit of time and let all the emotions settle" before looking ahead at what the Panthers need to do in order to improve heading into 2022-23.
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Once those conversations begin, Zito said there will be a number of different avenues the team can explore as they "attack each and every personal decision in the same fashion." But with the cap barely moving, new contracts kicking in, and several players set to become unrestricted free agents, he added that there will be "little room for error" in those decisions and that patience and diligence will be key.
"We're not going to make any rash judgements," said Zito, who has quickly turned the Panthers from an organization on the bubble into one that has made back-to-back trips to the playoffs. "I don't even think we're 36 hours out, maybe 42 hours. It's pretty raw still. It's surreal coming here this morning thinking we're supposed to be playing. We're going to do a thorough and patient examination of everything."
It's OK for the sting of this season's end to linger, but it's that sting that will drive future success.
"Today's bittersweet," Zito said. "I wish we were playing today. A little bit of anger, a little bit of sad, and a little frustration. But there's also excitement if you're a hockey fan. I'm proud of our room. I'm proud of what the guys have accomplished. I'm proud of the organization. … It was a fun season. Winning is intoxicating. It's very nice, but we have a ways to go as you can see. We have to continue to build on it. We have to continue to get better, and we're going to work at it every day."
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