SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers fell behind early and couldn’t claw their way back in a 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild in their home opener at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.
With their point streak snapped at four games, the Panthers now sit at 2-1-2.
“Not the result we wanted,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “But, yes, it’s great to be at home for like two days. It feels good to see our great fans. Wish we could’ve got a better result tonight, but they're a good hockey team.”
Left with too much time and space, Matt Boldy put the Wild up 1-0 just 53 seconds into the first period when he carried the puck into the zone and beat Jacob Markstrom with a wicked snipe.
Entering the game with the third-ranked power play in the NHL, the Wild doubled its lead on a trip to the man advantage when Kirill Kaprizov teed up a slick cross-ice pass and found the top right corner of the cage on a one-timer from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 6:18.
“There was a consistency through that game that we were just slower than they were,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We were slow in all parts of our game, but they were also quick with how they moved the puck up their feet. We were just sluggish in our game.”
Cutting into the deficit for the Panthers in the second period, Matthew Tkachuk followed up on his own rebound off the rush and lifted the puck over Jesper Wallstedt to make it 2-1 at 2:18
But less than three minutes later, Kaprizov scored again to extend Minnesota’s lead to 3-1 at 5:00.
Carrying an extremely hot stick for Minnesota, Kaprizov is just the fifth player in Wild history to touch the twine at least five times through the first five games of a season.
Keeping the deficit at two goals, Markstrom later stoned Ryan Hartman on a breakaway.
A little before the midway point of the third period, the Panthers, who were in search of an offensive spark, put the Tkachuk brothers together on a line centered by Sam Bennett.
A small sample, the line spent 2:02 together at 5-on-5.
“Two great players that play a similar style to me,” Bennett said of sharing the ice with Matthew and Brady. “We can definitely play physical. We can use our skill. It'd be fun to get a couple more looks with them.”
On the new line’s first shift, they drew a penalty, but the Panthers were unable to cash in.
Early on this season, the power play has struggled to convert.
“We’ve kind of just got too many one and dones,” Tkachuk said of the power play, which went 0-for-5 against the Wild. “We seem to be not having a guy at the net all the time. We seem to, you know, we’ve got to have more sustained offense. I feel like in years past, when we've had stretches where they haven't gone in, it's still a constant wave after wave.”
After the Panthers pulled Markstrom to gain a 6-on-5 advantage, the Wild locked in their win and Kaprizov completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal to make it 4-1 at 18:56.
In defeat, the Panthers scored only one goal despite compiling 3.59 expected goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
“They came out with a lot of jump in the first and a lot of pressure,” Bennett said. “I thought we were a little bit better in the second, but just couldn't generate enough momentum.”
After a two-game road trip, the Panthers expected a better result when they return.
“These fans are incredible,” Bennett said. “You know they support us every night. It was nice to be home and play in front of a packed house tonight. An unfortunate result, but, you know, we'll look to be better next time we're at home.”
THEY SAID IT
“Obviously special teams needs to be better for us to. I thought that there were some good things there that hopefully we can take [to the next game] because, you know, blink and you got two more games back-to-back. Gotta get ahead of this.” -- Matthew Tkachuk on Florida’s performance on special teams
“They've been good. They've been really good. I mean, I like them whether Lars (Eller) would play there or Sam (Lafferty) at center tonight. I think their consistency level, style of game physicality and their energy levels have been excellent.” -- Paul Maurice on the fourth line
“There's a lot of really good players on this team. Guys are going to get more opportunity, bigger roles. We went through it last year, so we're prepared to step up.” -- Sam Bennett on the Panthers overcoming early-season injuries
CATS STATS
- The Panthers saw their winning streak in home openers snapped at seven games.
- Anton Lundell recorded a team-high six shots on goal.
- The Panthers generated 12 scoring chances on the power play.
- Sam Bennett and Garnet Hathaway each had four hits.
- Florida led 15-9 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Seth Jones was deployed.
WHAT’S NEXT?
On the road again.
After getting just one game on home ice, the Panthers will kick off a back-to-back with a battle against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday at 1 p.m. ET.
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