The Florida Panthers have been storming through the round 3 playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, as if it’s 2023 again and they are itching to get to that Stanley Cup final. Not only was Florida at their best in the first two road games in Raleigh, but they came home and served like nobody’s business with a 6-2 win in game 3. Both Captain Aleksander Barkov and Niko Mikkola managed to pocket the puck twice, while Florida newbie Brad Marchand managed one goal, as did Jesper Boqvist, replacing the injured Sam Reinhart. Game 4 is also set to be on home turf, so it’s looking like this very well might be a short series, like the one in 2023. But just how do the Florida Panthers manage to stay so consistently on top of their game?

There are many things that seem to help make the Florida Panthers work the way they do. Good strategic planning on the part of GM Bill Zito for one. In the 5 years he has been GM of the team, they have made the playoffs every year and finally won their first Stanley Cup just last year. And before 2023, their last Stanley Cup final had been in 1996, so clearly Bill Zito isn’t being named a finalist for the Jim Gregory GM of the year award for no reason. But what else is the magic behind Florida’s swimming success and seemingly complete transformation?

In a recent postgame interview, Evan Rodrigues spoke about the Panthers’ famous locker room culture, something that has been commented on a lot this offseason in terms of what helps the team function together so flawlessly at every level. “Yeah, I think it’s a tight-knit group, right?” Rodrigues said, “So when guys come in, when they step into the lineup, they feel confident, right? They’re not worried about making a mistake or letting anybody down; they come in, and the guys pick them up and pump ’em up and they go out there, and they just play their game right.”

Rodrigues added to the supportive nature of the locker room, saying, “And so when you have a team that does that and pulls for one another and wants success for one another, it just makes every guy’s, you know, job easier. Just, yeah, it’s constant, you know, reminders and constant reinforcement, and everyone that’s stepped into a game from coming out of the lineup has done a great job.”

And Rodrigues isn’t the first person to have described Florida’s locker room culture in this way. Coach Paul Maurice, ex-Panther Ed Jovanovski, and newbie Brad Marchand have all had similar things to say.

Florida Panthers from across the years and tiers speak on the team’s locker room culture

Soon after the former Boston Bruins captain, Brad Marchand, was traded to Florida, he struggled with having to say goodbye to his old team. However, he famously declared that the Florida locker room culture helped him feel at home again soon enough. “It’s awesome.” Brad Marchand said of the locker room culture, “I mean, the group is incredible. And it’s a very easy group to feel at home with. One of the biggest things that I noticed when I came in here is the way the guys work. And when you work that way, you work the way this team does, you know, you have a lot of fun, and you build a lot of unity together because of that.”

Coach Paul Maurice also further added to Marchand’s sentiments, saying in a separate interview about the team bonding in the locker room, “The culture is good on the players that are in and out of our lineup. They feel a part of it.” And clearly there is something to all this, because even ex-Panther Ed Jovanovski spoke in a recent Spittin’ Chiclets podcast saying, “The culture is good on the players that are in and out of our lineup. They feel a part of it.”

So, there you have it, the secret to the Florida Panther’s unflinching success seems to just be a team that likes and supports each other. Hmmm, simple steps for big wins!