5 Takeaways: Reimer Stands Tall, but Panthers Can't Solve Colorado

After a 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at BB&T Center on Saturday snapped an encouraging three-game point streak, several Florida Panthers players vented their frustrations about the lack of consistency the team has shown this season.
"Every three, four games, we run into this problem," defenseman Aaron Ekblad said after the loss. "Not being consistent with the things that we know are going to make us successful."

With a chance to extend yet another point streak and move within three points of third place in the jam-packed Atlantic Division, Florida's climb up the standings was once again thwarted by Colorado, as the Panthers fell 2-1 to the Avalanche on Thursday night in Denver.
"When they got a chance, they buried it," head coach Bob Boughner said. "We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities when we had them."
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals, including the game-winner at 6:44 of the third period, for the Avalanche, who are 3-1-0 in their past four games. In net, Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves, allowing two-or-fewer goals for just the first time in five starts.
"We came out hard and had some good scoring chances; we didn't bury them," Boughner said. "[Varlamov] made some saves. We hit a few posts and then we got into some penalty trouble."
Aleksander Barkov scored the lone goal for the Panthers, who have scored two-or-fewer goals in three consecutive games.
"It's one of those games where we've got to get some goal support," Boughner said.
The Panthers (12-15-5) continue their road trip Sunday in Las Vegas.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday's loss in Denver…

1. PENALTY KILLING PROWESS

The Panthers penalty kill was flawless once again tonight, killing off all three of the Avalanche's opportunities with the man advantage. Florida has now stymied 31 of 34 opposing power plays over their last 12 games. They have also been perfect on the PK in five of their last six games, including four consecutive games without allowing a power play goal. After conceding at least one power-play goal in 12 of their first 16 games to start the season, Florida's PK has since settled down into one of the league's most-successful units. "We just know what to do there," Barkov said. "We realize have good players; we just need to take them away and make them shoot from bad angles. We have great goalies in the net who can stop the puck from anywhere. That's our key to success, but we need to get better."

2. SHORTHANDED SUCCESS

What makes the Panthers PK truly dangerous is its ability to also, surprisingly, generate quite a bit of offense. Trailing 1-0, Barkov scored his league-leading fourth shorthanded goal of the season tonight, taking a pass from Jared McCann and firing the puck past Varlamov to tie the game at 10:27 of the second period. A Selke Trophy hopeful, Barkov has amazingly only been on the ice for two power play goals against in 60:08 of ice time. Florida's six shorthanded goals are now tied with San Jose for the most in the NHL this season.

3. MACK ATTACK

When it comes to stopping Colorado's attack, the game plan is actually fairly simple: shutdown MacKinnon. And even though the Panthers knew this going into tonight's game, the 22-year-old center still managed to do plenty of damage. With the game still scoreless early in the second session, MacKinnon broke the ice for the Avs, scoring on a huge one-timer to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at 3:15 of the period. Later, in the third period, MacKinnon scored again, winning a one-on-one battle with Aaron Ekblad and sneaking the puck past James Reimer for the eventual game-winning goal at 6:44 of the third period. "Unfortunately it just found a puck-sized hole," Reimer said of MacKinnon's second goal. In 31 games this season, MacKinnon has been nothing short of spectacular for the Avalanche, leading the team in goals (13), assists (22) and points (35).

4. REIMER REALLY GOOD (AGAIN)

Making his third start in four nights, Reimer once again looked like a legitimate No. 1 goaltender in net for the Panthers, stopping 28 of 30 shots in defeat. Just his second regulation loss over his past eight games, Reimer entered tonight's action with a perfect 3-0-0 career record in Denver, boasting a 2.00 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in those starts. "I thought we battled hard for the most part," Reimer said. "Another good game where we worked hard and unfortunately just didn't get the bounces at the end…. I'll be ready to go next game." In his past three games, Reimer has stopped 87 of 93 shots (.935 percent). With starting goalie Roberto Luongo expected to miss an extended period of time with an upper-body injury, look for the Panthers to keep rolling with Reimer.

5. DADONOV BACK ON TOP

Evegnii Dadonov, who returned to the lineup Tuesday in Chicago, reclaimed his spot on the right side of Florida's top line roughly five minutes into the third period of tonight's game. After missing eight games with an upper-body injured suffered on Nov. 25, Dadonov surprised many when he made his return to the lineup just over two weeks into his initial four-to-six week prognosis. Bougher said that he would keep Nick Bjugstad in Dadonov's original spot initially, but that decision appears to have lasted just over six periods. It's unclear whether or not Dadonov will be deployed on the top line in Las Vegas on Sunday, but tonight's promotion is a good indication that he will be. The 28-year-old winger has 18 points (7-11-18) in 24 games this season.

BONUS: HEAT MAP (VIA NATURALSTATTRICK.COM)

The Panthers and Avalanche both saw a lot of action in the slot tonight, with Florida outshooting Colorado 52-45 at even strength. Jared McCann had a game-high five shots on goal.