Defenseman

Brandon Montour has the longest point streak for a defenseman in Florida Panthers history. Opportunity and consistency are fueling his rise.

Even when he first got to Florida, the Panthers were a run-and-gun group and actively encouraged their defensemen to hop into the offense essentially as frequently as possible. On most nights, his pairing was playing the fewest minutes and he only played top-pairing minutes seven times — all in the last 10 games of the regular season after the Panthers had effectively locked up everything and star defenseman Aaron Ekblad was out with an injury. “His minutes come up now and we find there’s way more patience in his game. The 28-year-old Canadian still got a primary assist on Luostarinen’s goal, running his point streak to 10 games — the longest ever for a Florida defenseman and tied for the eighth longest in franchise history. Montour has played top-pairing minutes 20 times already this season, and been paired up with Staal for 18 straight games and 35 of the last 37. After notching another point Monday, Montour was up to 44 — 10 goals and 34 assists — and ranked eighth among all NHL defensemen in scoring. Obviously, he’s steady at home, moves the puck simple, moves the puck to me when he sees me flying up the ice.” “He has modified his game,” Maurice said. “Last year, I don’t think I even had a partner,” Montour said. He did it again Monday when he thought he scored another goal in the Panthers’ 7-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning — Eetu Luostarinen actually tipped it past Andrei Vasilevskiy — and his teammates were still ribbing him about it a day later after practice in Sunrise. “Opportunity,” he said Tuesday. Most importantly to Montour, the points are coming with winning.