It was a rough week for the Panthers. Flashes of great play across the Winnipeg and Colorado matches were visible but an overall lack of consistency led to three straight losses. However, their record is at about the same place as it was last year at this time in the season so there’s no cause for panic yet. Currently what needs the most work is the defense which has struggled against teams that have a lot of speed. Especially in the game against the Avs, they allowed Colorado to dictate the pace of play instead of doing so themselves. As the season ebbs and flows the Panthers will find a way to learn from these losses and get better as a result.
Winnipeg Jets:
In a second match of a home and home set of games, Florida traveled up to Winnipeg following a 5-0 shutout win. The expectation was that the Jets would be better the second time around and they were. Hellebuyck had a much better game and the Jets were able to work around the Florida defense more efficiently. Although the score would indicate a blowout win it was a much closer game than just what the scoresheet said. Down 0-3 Florida battled back to get within a goal twice only for two late empty net goals to seal the win for Winnipeg. What hurt the Panthers the most in this game was giving up goals in the final minute of both the first and the second periods. But some positives to take away from the game are that they did a better job of blocking shots (16-10 FL adv) and had the advantage in hits (36-20) and faceoffs (35-26). Greer got the Cats on the board in the second period to cut the deficit to 1-3 going into the third. Reinhart then scored a power-play goal early in the third to get within one. Winnipeg built back a two-goal lead off a Schiefele hat-trick goal. Tkachuk then scored on the power-play to cut it back to a one-goal game. The Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attack in the final minutes, it felt like Florida was going to tie the game they just needed the right puck bounce. But instead, the Jets score two empty net goals and seal the win. It was a good effort from the Cats and what I would consider to be a quality loss because the effort was there, sometimes the pucks don’t bounce in your favor and they hit plenty of posts and crossbars during the match. There’s no shame in splitting a two-game back-to-back with the best team in the NHL.
Chicago Blackhawks:
The Panthers were looking to bounce back against the Blackhawks, however, they haven’t played well in Chicago and this week was no different. The Cats came out flat against Chicago and weren’t playing with emotional intensity. The result was missed passes and turnovers allowing the Blackhawks to take their few opportunities and capitalize on them. Florida dominated the SOG and o-zone time but had little to show for it due to a lack of traffic in front of Mrazek. Chicago converted an early power-play into a 0-1 lead early in the first period and while Florida made a good push on the following shifts nothing was bouncing in for them. They hit several posts in this game as well but the offense was struggling. The second line looked its best in several games despite not scoring and Sam Reinhart continues to be the most consistent scoring threat on the team. He scored the Panthers only goal shooting from the far side of the faceoff circle of a faceoff win, the puck went in on the far side of the goal and cut the lead down to a one-goal game. The messy play plagued the team for the rest of the game and an empty net goal got Chicago the 1-3 win. Florida now hasn’t won in Chicago in three years and they headed home to cap off the week in a match against Colorado.
Colorado Avalanche:
This game was in a word, inconsistent. Disastrous may be a better choice but the bad outcome doesn’t follow if the Panthers had played a consistent 60 minute game. The upside is that the Cats got more offense going in this one with Verhaeghe, Barkov, Reinhart, and Lundell all scoring goals. HC Paul Maurice opted to do some line swapping putting Verhaeghe on the third line, J. Boqvist centering the fourth line, and Luostarinen up on the second line. It looked like it added some juice to the team as Verhaeghe scored less than a minute into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Drouin tied it about halfway through the period but Barkov retook the lead in the final five minutes and Florida took a 2-1 lead out of the first. A solid first twenty minutes but it was the middle frame where it all fell apart for the Cats. Colorado scored four unanswered goals from Drouin, O’Connor, Girard, and Rantanen. Any one of those Florida would’ve liked back as they allowed Colorado to dictate the pace of play and the Panthers struggled to slow down their speed. The Cats struggled to play through the neutral zone which led to easy zone entires for the Avs. When Florida was able to get into the offensive zone they were able to put pressure on Georgiev and they did score when they got players in front of the net. While they played better in the third period, too many self induced errors allowed the Avanlance to run away with a 4-7 win. The effort was too little too late at that point and they weren’t able to overcome the three goal deficit.
The Panthers have a full week ahead of them with games against the Capitals, the Leafs, and a back-to-back against Carolina. It’s going to be another challenging week for the team as they look to get back into the win column.
