SUNRISE, Fla. – After turning heads and tearing up the NHL for roughly two months, the Florida Panthers are facing their first noticeable stretch of adversity since mid-January.
With more than a few key players out of the lineup, they saw their losing streak reach three games with a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.
And while a small skid like that might not seem like much to a team that’s currently sitting pretty at 45-20-4 in the standings, the Panthers aren’t satisfied with the state of things.
“We’re not close right now,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said when asked about the team getting back to the dominant style of play that we’ve seen so many times this season. “I’ve got lots of faith we can get them there, but we’re not close to our game right now.”
The hottest team in the NHL at the moment, the Predators extended their point streak to a franchise-record 16 games, going 14-0-2 during a hot stretch that dates back to Feb. 17.
Keeping the Cats in check, they allowed just three high-danger shot attempts at 5-on-5.
"It's going to be important on this stretch here that we really ramp our game up here and get back to our game," Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said.
Firing up the bench and bringing fans to their feet early in the first period, Nick Cousins got some deserved payback when he dropped the gloves with Predators forward Jason Zucker.
A brawl several months in the making, the bad blood went back to when Zucker, playing for the Arizona Coyotes at the time, sent Cousins into concussion protocol with an illegal boarding penalty in January.
Making a highlight-reel save early, Sergei Bobrovsky, staring down a 2-on-1 rush, lunged to his left to deny Ryan O’Reilly on a one-timer from the right circle with a sleek left-pad stop.
Kicking off the scoring, Gustav Nyquist took advantage of some chaos around the crease and fired a rebound past Bobrovsky to put the Predators up 1-0 at 17:47.
Strong in defeat, Bobrovsky finished with 34 saves.
“I feel pretty good,” Bobrovsky said. “I don’t focus much on the score. I focus on each and every moment and give the guys a chance. I just try to win the moment.”
With fists flying a second time in the first period, Jonah Gadjovich dropped the gloves with Nashville forward Cole Smith at 17:50, eventually taking him down as fans cheered on.
Doubling the lead for the Predators in the second period, Filip Forsberg set up in the slot and tipped in a point shot from Tyson Barrie to make it 2-0 at 7:32. Officials reviewed the goal to make sure the puck wasn’t touched with a high stick, but in the end it held up.
Squashing the hopes of a late comeback for the Panthers, Forsberg extended Nashville’s lead to 3-0 at 14:19 of the third period when he crashed the crease for his second goal.
“I think it’s just a matter of getting back to that grind that we’d been playing with before and being a little bit more of a unit as five guys coming at them and defending and going at the rush,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I think we were a little spread out. It’s hard to play that way.”
After being held to just five shots on goal during the first period, the Panthers recorded 18 over the second and third, but couldn’t manage to slip anything past Predators goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who finished with 33 saves to record the third shutout of his NHL career.
Before hitting the road for back-to-back games against the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, the Panthers plan to hold a spirited practice on Friday.
“We’re going to do the rallying cry tomorrow, not wait for the game,” Maurice said. “You’ve got to handle your day. We weren’t very good today. We’re going to have to find a way to be a hell of a lot better tomorrow.”
THEY SAID IT
“Right now, we’re a rush team with no speed, which wouldn’t relate at all to the team you’ve seen in the past. You’re as good as your last game. I’ve got a lot of faith in them, but I’m going to have to find a way to get it out of them.” – Paul Maurice
“It is what it is. I think the guys worked hard. The guys always work hard. We believe in each other. It’s all fine. It’s one of those games when it’s not going your way. At the end of the day we’re going to learn from it and get better from it.” – Sergei Bobrovsky
CATS STATS
- The Predators led 30-20 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.
- Sam Bennett led the Panthers with a 62.50 CF% at 5-on-5.
- Kevin Stenlund blocked a team-high three shots on goal.
- Brandon Montour led Florida with five hits.
- Anton Lundell went 8-for-13 (61.5%) in the faceoff circle.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The schedule doesn’t get any easier from here on out.
In the first game of their back-to-back, the Panthers will visit the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers (46-20-4) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
The official watch party will be at Funky Buddha in Oakland Park.
Visit FloridaPanthers.com/CatsOnTap for more information.
