5 Takeaways: Panthers Can't Capitalize on Chances in Loss to Leafs

After scoring 19 goals through the first four games of their five-game road trip, the Florida Panthers' stick fell silent in a 1-0 shutout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night.
Florida, shut out for just the second time this season, ends its trip 3-2-0.

"You look at the game and the end of a long road trip, I thought that the guys emptied their tanks and left it all out there," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "Obviously, it was a good team we were playing… we did everything but score tonight. I have to commend these guys. It just wasn't our night tonight."
James van Riemsdyk scored the game-winning goal for Toronto, letting loose a quick wrister from the left circle that found its way through Roberto Luongo's five-hole to put the Leafs up 1-0 at 19:31 of the first period.
Toronto has an NHL-best 30 victories when going up 1-0.
"I'd like to have it back," Luongo said of the goal. "That was the difference in the game, so obviously I don't feel too great about it. Other than that, I thought it was a well-played game by both sides."
The Panthers fired 40 shots on goal, but Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped them all for his career-high fifth shutout of the season. Nick Bjugstad led Florida with five shots, while defensemen Mike Matheson and Keith Yandle each chipped in four from the blue line.
"We had chances," Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau said. "Not every game it's going to go in, but of course it's nice to always put one in. Tonight, the goalie was hot."
The Panthers (26-25-6) now sit seven points behind Columbus for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with three games in hand. Florida will kick off a six-game homestand at BB&T Center on Thursday against Washington.
"It's time to go home and take care of business," Luongo said.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's loss in Toronto…

1. LUONGO IN TOP FORM

If this is the Roberto Luongo the Panthers get for the rest of the season, then they should be in the playoff hunt until the very end. In just his second game back after a groin injury sidelined him for more than two months, Luongo did everything he could to help his team pick up two points, stopping all but one of the 31 shots he faced in defeat. "He's still got a lot of hockey left to play," Boughner said. With 25 games left to play in the regular season, Boughner previously stated that he plans to give Luongo the bulk of the starts down the stretch. When asked about Luongo's impact after Tuesday's loss in Toronto, Boughner said he believes his team would likely be in a much better position had the 38-year-old netminder never been injured. "I'd like to believe that if we had him all year we'd have five or six more wins at this point, which would put us right in the thick of things," he said. "That's what Louie does. Louie can steal you a game when you're not good one night or stand on his head when you need the big save." Luongo has stopped 60 of 64 shots (.938) in the two starts since his return to the lineup on Feb. 17.

2. TOP SIX STICKS

After a season filled with shuffling and shakeups, the Panthers appear to have found a top-six they're satisfied with. With Tuesday night's matchup in Toronto, Florida has now iced the same top-six forwards in 11 straight games. The next best streak this season? Just five games. In those 11 games, Florida's top six has combined for 22 goals and 29 assists, with Aleksander Barkov recording a team-high 11 points during that span and three different skaters scoring at least five goals. "We're getting there," Boughner said. "We're close. We play a game like that, obviously we've got to score, but a lot of things went right tonight. We just couldn't score.''

3. DANGER ZONE

The Panthers led the Leafs in both shots on goal (40-31) and 5-on-5 shot attempts (56-54). But, it's important to remember that not all shots are created equal. In terms of scoring chances, Toronto held a 38-31 advantage over Florida at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. And when it comes to high-danger chances - shots from the low slot and around the crease - the Leafs held an 11-10 advantage in all situations. If you'll take a look at the heat map below, you'll see that both teams had ample opportunities from the slot, but in the end only Toronto was able to capitalize. At even strength, Florida's top line was its most effective, with Aleksander Barkov (66.7), Evgenii Dadonov (66.7) and Nick Bjugstad (64.71) leading the team in Corsi For percentage. "We couldn't solve Freddy over there," Boughner said. "We had some bounces that just seemed to bounce over his stick every time. We were in the right areas. I thought we had traffic. I thought we were good in the o-zone. We created, but both goalies were good tonight."

4. YANDLE ON

It's a been a long, long time since Keith Yandle took a day off. The 31-year-old defenseman suited up in the 800th NHL game of his career on Tuesday night. The current owner of the NHL's longest active consecutive games played streak, he ranks seventh all-time in consecutive games played (690). An offensive wizard from the blue line, Yandle currently ranks first among Florida's defensemen in points (35), assists (29) and power-play points (12), while also leading the club in total ice time (1405:51.) "It's pretty amazing. He's such a smart player. He doesn't put himself in spots where he's going to force or a hit… he sees the game well and he has a lot of hockey smarts. That's part of the season why he stays healthy." Yandle skated a team-high 25:43 against the Leafs.

5. HEADING HOME

After wrapping up their five-game road trip on Tuesday night in Toronto, the Panthers will now head home to play 11 of their next 12 games at the BB&T Center. Of those 11 teams, five are currently not in possession of a playoff spot. Florida is 13-9-3 at home this season and has won three of its last five games in Sunrise. "We know our schedule, obviously, for the rest of the month it's heavy, it's tough," Boughner said last week. "But we feel that if we can get through this month and stay in the face that you look at our March schedule. It's there for us if we can find a way to get through this month and stay with it." The Panthers will kick off a six-game homestand against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.