Florida Panthers' Aleksander Barkov Knows What Helped His Team Beat The Red Wings: 'We Got Yelled At'

The Florida Panthers weren’t doing too well for most of their game against the Detroit Red Wings earlier today.

Through two periods of play, the Red Wings held a 1-0 advantage. To make things worse, Florida looked somewhat off for those first 20 minutes, lacking the conviction that head coach Paul Maurice would have liked to see.

But in the third period, forward and captain Aleksander Barkov helped change the tenor of the game. 

With about 8 minutes gone in the final frame, Barkov cleaned up a rebound in front of the net to level the score at one apiece.

Towards the end of the period, Barkov would again get credit for another goal after Red Wings defenseman Mo Seider inadvertently shoved the puck into his own net, giving Florida its first lead of the game. 

While Detroit would respond and send the game into overtime, Sam Rienhart would win the game in a shootout for the home team and vault them into first place in the Atlantic division (for now).

Barkov Said Getting Yelled At Helped Florida To Be Better

After the game, Barkov spoke with Katie Engleson about how Florida found a way to grind out a win. The captain did not hesitate to pinpoint exactly what got his team in the right mindset.

"I think our first period wasn’t that good. We got yelled at in the locker room. Then we got better," Barkov said.

Welp, good to know Florida responds well to harsh criticism!

Barkov expressed that Maurice’s message was to get them in a postseason mindset.

"We haven't been playing that hard. I know we clinched a playoff (spot), we can’t just be waiting for them to start," the captain said. "We have got to be ready when they come, today was a good step forward."

Florida has eight games left before the playoffs. If the Panthers can attack these last few games with this mindset, they’ll be a formidable opponent for anyone.