Panthers’ captain Barkov is taking charge of his postseason narrative

Aleksander Barkov has had many titles since his NHL debut over a decade ago.

As he matured physically and the Panthers surrounded him with a fun, capable supporting cast that came to include the likes of Jonathan Marchessault, Vincent Trocheck, and even Jaromir Jagr, Barkov’s peers oxymoronically christened him the league’s most underrated star across a myriad of anonymous polls. The offseason retirement of Patrice Bergeron in 2023 meant Barkov, who will likely win the Selke Trophy for the second time in June, could add “best defensive forward on the planet” to his list of unofficial honorifics. Many teammates who have seen Barkov up close take it even further.  

Trocheck, now with the New York Rangers, told the Sun Sentinel that the Cats captain was a top-three player in the NHL along with Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid in 2018. When reporters asked veteran defenseman Radko Gudas about a knock Barkov sustained in last year’s Eastern Conference Final, he said “[Barkov is] the best player in the world, so it changes things.” Countless other plaudits from fellow Panthers suggest they’re not just going to bat for a friend; they believe Barkov is that good.

What’s stopping the rest of the hockey world from getting on board? The player’s injury record (one 82-game season) and a market that cares more about Miami Heat basketball are factors but not dealbreakers. The biggest obstacle between Barkov and true superstardom has always been his disappearing act in the playoffs.

Though Barkov was respectable on paper (16 P in 21 GP), the story of the Panthers’ unlikely trip to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final was about clutch moments from Matthew Tkachuk (11 G, 24 P in 20 GP) on the second line and Sergei Bobrovsky in goal. As a gassed Bobrovsky and badly hurt Tkachuk labored through the Final against the Golden Knights, Barkov could do little to pick up the slack, managing only a goal and an assist in a lopsided five-game defeat.

The forgettable series continued a disappointing trend for the 28-year-old. Barkov was torn to shreds (-8) at even strength despite scoring well (7 P) in a 2021 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He collapsed (1 P, -6) as Tampa swept the Panthers in 2022. As Florida geared up for the 2024 postseason, the book was out on ‘Sasha’: a great player, but not one who can elevate his team when it matters. Through 10 excellent games, Barkov has set about re-writing that script in 2024.

The first hurdle was, of course, the Lightning. Not the same Lightning that handled the Panthers with minimal difficulty in 2021 and 2022, but a hated rival with a mental edge over Barkov’s outfit all the same. If Tampa’s recent victories in the Battle of Florida wore on the Cats’ mind, it did not show in the Conference Quarterfinals. The Panthers were the favorites this time and took advantage of their opponents’ aging roster and thin depth to jump out to a 3-0 lead. 

Barkov was back to his old tricks after a 2-assist Game 1, though. He went pointless over the next three contests as the Lightning and a returning Mikhail Sergachev extended the series to a fifth game. Instead of getting lost under the bright lights, Barkov played Game 5 with a knife in his teeth, shoveling in a pair of greasy goals to go along with an assist and a +4 rating. With 11 faceoff wins (78.6%), three hits, and two blocked shots to complement his offensive heroics, the towering Finn dominated Tampa all over the ice in a signature playoff performance. 

Something clicked during that game that has carried Barkov through a testy second-round matchup with another old friend, the Boston Bruins. After the B’s beat the Panthers 5-1 in a Game 1 shocker, the heavily favored Cats charged back with a 6-1 victory that their captain orchestrated masterfully, notching 2 goals, 4 points, and 6 hits during the demolition job.

Though hard-checking center Sam Bennett dominated the news cycle after Games 3 and 4, it’s Barkov, not Bennett, not 57-goal linemate Sam Reinhart, and not even Tkachuk who’s driving the bus for the Panthers this postseason. He proved as much when, just minutes after Bennett checked Charlie Coyle into netminder Jeremy Swayman and tied the game 2-2, he took the puck at the Boston blueline with David Pastrnak draped all over him, weaved through checks from Jake DeBrusk and Mason Lohrei, and buried his shot into the top corner to complete the comeback and place the series in a 3-1 stranglehold. 

Aleksander Barkov with the power move gives the Panthers the go-ahead goal! 💪 pic.twitter.com/4HcMxbNxl2

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 13, 2024

It’s Bennett whose concussing check on opposition captain Brad Marchand gained the ire of the Bruins, and Bennett whose controversial Game 4 tally earned him Lebron James levels of heat from the Boston crowd, but now more than ever, this is Barkov’s team; he’s the one taking advantage of the extracurricular distractions to dominate between the whistles. Despite frequent matchups with the likes of Pastrnak (whom he has out-chanced 18-8) and Nikita Kucherov, Barkov leads the Panthers in points (13, tied with Tkachuk) and share of expected goals (60.8%) in the postseason. 

The Bennett line is the intentionally obnoxious public face of the Florida Panthers. Between their tone-setting antics and Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe’s knack for clutch goals (28 combined playoff tallies since 2023), they’re indispensable to coach Paul Maurice’s team. That was true last year, and they still lost to Vegas. The major difference between that adrenaline-fueled 2023 team and this year’s Panthers is not the emergence of Gustav Forsling (22:18 ATOI, +8) as a blueline dominator or the deadline acquisition of pedigreed playoff sniper Vladimir Tarasenko (46 career playoff goals), but the addition of a superstar captain who acts like one in the playoffs. Maybe Barkov should have been doing that all along, but what matters is that he’s doing it now.

After eking out a 2-1 victory in Game 5, the Bruins aren’t done yet, but against a Bennett line that can beat them mentally and a Barkov unit that can just plain beat them, it’s hard to like their chances. Or anyone else’s.