After a tough loss on Tuesday to the Devils, Florida looked to rebound in their second chance game on Thursday. Unfortunately, they ultimately fell short of picking up a win against New Jersey and struggled against the speed that the Devils utilize. The Cats’ usually stout defense was a half-step behind all night, allowing New Jersey to convert on their chances. Special teams was nothing short of a mess and gave up four of the six Devils’ goals. Penalties by Florida stacked up over the course of the game and wiped out any momentum they might’ve had, it was a close contest early on before it all unraveled. The Panthers struggled against New Jersey last season as well and that was when they were dealing with injuries up and down the lineup, hopefully, the Cats will take some well-learned lessons from this one and have a better outing in their next two games, both against Winnipeg.
Slow Defense:
The Panthers aren’t necessarily the fastest team on the ice, which was very evident against the Devils. New Jersey has players throughout their lineup who skate fast and can blow by defensemen. While Florida got in plenty of hits, holding a 45-29 advantage, it didn’t do much to slow down the Devils. Some of the Cats’ worst games are when they get into a track meet, as Paul Maurice would say, and an inability to establish the forecheck made breakouts easy for Jersey. There wasn’t much sustained pressure throughout the full 60 minutes and HC Paul Maurice said in his media availability that there were about three shifts from his team that he liked. For something that is the team’s bread and butter, the defense was out of rhythm and out of sync. They struggled to track New Jersey’s quick passing in the offensive zone, especially on the power play. Maurice also stated in his post-game presser that the whole team was a half-step slow all night and that the Devils were better, sharper, and executed better. However, he said that’s not a measurement of how well the Cats play.
Special Teams Struggles:
Prior to the two games against New Jersey, the special teams has looked good for Florida. Thursday night’s game showed there’s still plenty of room for improvement though. Half of the Devils’ goals came on the power play with one more getting scored short-handed. It was a rough night all the way around for the PK. At one point, the New Jersey PP was 3/3 and ended the night 3 for 5. One of the power play goals was partially just an unfortunate play, as Jack Hughes’ centering feed hit Kulikov’s skate and sent the puck toward the net before Mercer put it in. Another one got scored after Florida left too much of a gap and gave Jersey all the time and space they needed to convert. The most deflating thing about the game was Florida allowing two goals in the final seconds of the period, both of which were power-play goals. HC Paul Maurice made the call to pull Bobrovsky with 12 minutes on the clock to give Florida a 6 on 4 power play opportunity but the Cats still didn’t convert, instead, Jesper Bratt scored on the empty net for the hat trick. Fans were plenty vocal on X about their thoughts on the officiating, specifically around two calls; a no-call on a blatant high stick that Bennett took to the face and an interference call on Mikkola, who either didn’t touch Jack Hughes at all or barely touched him, either way the video shows that it’s not enough or any contact to warrant an interference call. Bennett even had a chat with the officials after he was hit in the face, but no call was made. In both instances, fans were upset with the decisions that were made.
Mounting Penalties:
Another Panthers game, another match full of penalties, to the surprise of no one who’s watched this team play. There are nights where they play mostly clean hockey, but more frequently, there are games like Thursday night where there’s plenty of PIMs to go around. The first period was relatively clean with only Verhaeghe taking a late penalty for slashing, unfortunately, this penalty gave Jersey the 2-1 lead out of the opening twenty minutes. The teams looked evenly matched at 5v5 in the first period, with New Jersey breaking the ice, but then Jesper Boqvist scored to tie the game; Boqvist was playing up on the second line. The second period was where things started to get off the rails as all three Panther penalties were committed by part of their PK units; Forsling (5:20, holding), Ekblad (5:20, roughing), and Mikkola (19:39, interference). Sam Reinhart tied the game 2-2, but the following power play for Jersey gave them the 2-3 lead. Although the Devils also took three penalties, they converted on their power plays while the Cats didn’t. The third period was also plagued by penalties, with Verhaeghe (0:22, tripping) taking his second one of the night, Jesper Boqvist (5:54, slashing), and for the second straight game, Gadjovich fought one of the Devils and was handed a five-minute major. New Jersey took three penalties as well J. Hughes (6:29, unsportsmanlike conduct), MacDermid (9:59, fighting), and Hamilton (13:25 interference). It was a sloppy outing from the Panthers and they’re more than capable of playing cleaner hockey as well as having a stronger PK.
The Panthers take on the best team in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets at home and on the road Saturday and Tuesday.
