PITTSBURGH – The Florida Panthers couldn’t find their scoring touch in the Steel City, suffering a frustrating 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
Sitting at 5-4-2 in the standings, the Panthers have followed their three-game winning streak with back-to-back losses.
"We're not playing good at all,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said of the team’s last two games. “It's very frustrating to have a back-to-back quick turnaround like this and lay an egg like we did tonight. It's a long year and this stuff just can't happen. It's not even how we're losing, it's the way we're playing. It's something that we're going to have to fix in here.”
Finishing with 17 saves for the Panthers, rookie goaltender Cooper Black made his NHL debut.
“It was definitely exciting for me to get out there and play with these guys and look across the way and play [against] some great players,” Black said of his first taste of the NHL. “So, it was a cool experience. Obviously not the not the outcome you want, but it is what it is.”
After forcing a turnover in Florida’s zone, the Penguins quickly went the other way and broke the ice when Nick Robertson scored off the rush to make it 1-0 at 15:19 of the first period.
Despite the Panthers doing a much better job of generating in the second period, the Penguins doubled their lead with another goal off the rush. Entering the zone on a 3-on-2, Hendrix Lapierre went to the net and scored to make it 2-0 at 9:59.
Unable to cash in on a four-minute power play that carried over from the end of the second period into the start of the third, the Panthers saw their deficit grow even larger when Evgeni Malkin kept the puck himself on an odd-man rush and sniped a shot to make it 3-0 at 1:47.
In 52 career games against Florida, Malkin has scored 23 goals.
Hitting a few posts and coming up empty on a few of their better looks all game, the Panthers were unable to get anything past Arturs Silovs, who stopped all 26 shots he faced for Pittsburgh.
Making seven high-danger stops, Silovs earned the fourth shutout of his career.
After the Panthers pulled Black to gain an extra attacker late in regulation, Robertson guided a long shot into the abandoned cage to make it 4-0 at 17:34 with his second goal of the game.
Even though they’re not far removed from a winning streak in which their sticks were scorching hot, the Panthers still aren’t happy after being outscored 9-1 over their last two games.
"I don't know if it's where on the spectrum of arrogance and softness that I've allowed to creep into our game,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “I'm going to find that out here in a couple days on that."
THEY SAID IT
“Very difficult to win hockey games in this league when your team scores zero in front of you and gets what it deserves. I was fine with him for his first game.” – Paul Maurice on Cooper Black’s NHL debut
“Not a recipe for success at all. It's too hard to chase the game. Every team's too good. Every team's too good with the lead.” – Matthew Tkachuk on the Panthers needing better starts
"I know for my parents it was going to be pretty awesome. They sacrificed a lot for me to get to where I am -- money and time and just effort overall. So, you know, I wouldn't be here without them. I just really appreciate what they did for me." – Cooper Black on his NHL debut
CATS STATS
- At 6-foot-9, Cooper Black is the tallest goaltender in the history of the NHL.
- The Panthers were held without a goal for the first time this season.
- Garnet Hathaway had a team-high six hits.
- Lars Eller went 6-for-10 (60%) in the faceoff circle.
- The Panthers led 32-10 in hits.
- The Panthers had 23 giveaways.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will have a few days to re-calibrate before continuing their road trip with a matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
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