The Florida Panthers keep finding these guys, and it's not random

Florida has a weird talent for finding usable backups, and it starts with the goaltending work inside the organization. Roberto Luongo oversees the club's Goaltending Excellence Department, and the pipeline has already helped guys like Alex Lyon and Anthony Stolarz pop.

Tarasov feels like the newest version of that story, and the fit was intentional. The Panthers acquired him from Columbus for a 2025 fifth-round pick, and his bond with Sergei Bobrovsky, they're from the same Russian city, made the landing softer.

As a fan, I love a backup who looks calm when everything feels loud.

After he stopped 27 shots in a 2-1 win over Colorado, Tarasov's record moved to 5-6-2, and he sounded genuinely happy about the move. Paul Maurice also admitted Florida gave him «no run support» early, and the results didn't match the quality.

That context matters, because Tarasov opened 0-3-1, then went 5-3-1 since, and his first Panthers win came with 37 saves against Washington. He even owned the Montreal collapse, where a late puck play went sideways and the game flipped.

The Colorado night felt like the response you want from a goalie trying to build trust, clean, composed, and timely. Reuters noted Florida snapped the Avalanche's 10-game winning streak, and Maurice called those wins «keepers,» the kind the whole room shares.

Now it's about the grind, because the standings race doesn't care about excuses. With tests piling up game after game, Tarasov's usefulness is simple, he lets Florida manage Bobrovsky's workload without punting points.

If the Panthers get even average starts behind their starter, the season feels less like survival and more like strategy. Tarasov is not a headline, but right now he's absolutely a solution.