RECAP: Ducks 7, Panthers 3

ANAHEIM – Learn and prepare for the next one.

Allowing five unanswered goals, the Florida Panthers fell 7-3 to the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Tuesday night.

With the loss, the Panthers now sit at 6-6-1.

“We played well enough to be in it, but it’s not really well enough and up to our standards, so some stuff we got to work on,” Noah Gregor said after the loss.

Giving the Ducks an early advantage, Cutter Gauthier found himself alone on a breakaway and made it 1-0 at 3:09.

Countering at 10:14, after coming out of the penalty box, Brad Marchand poked the puck by Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe to get a breakaway of his own and went top shelf on Lukas Dostal to even the score at 1-1.

The goal would be Marchand’s team-leading seventh of the year.

Putting the Ducks back on top with a 2-1 lead, Gauthier added his second of the night with a one timer on the power play at 15:17.

Despite being down 2-1 after the first period, the Panthers controlled much of the five-on-five play in the first, holding a 63.33% offensive advantage and 12-4 on scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“I think for the most part tonight the five-on-five was fairly solid, until the last 10 minutes of the game,” said Gregor. “We can do it. You just have to do it for sixty minutes.”

An eventful second period, each team lit the lamp twice during the frame.

Tying the game at 2-2 in the second period, a perfect pass from Mackie Samoskevich sent Evan Rodrigues on a breakaway before the 32-year-old went high and in at 5:21.

Collecting his second point of the night, Rodrigues dished a backhand pass over to Eetu Luostarinen in traffic on the power play, to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead at 10:37.

The power play goal would be Luostarinen’s fifth of his career.

“Nice play by him (Rodrigues),” Luostarinen said of the pass. “We were able to keep the puck down there for a while and got a shot. A good broken play by him.”

Striking back, Gauthier completed the hat trick at 15:36 on the power play to even the score at 3-3.

Retaking the lead for the Ducks ahead of the end of the period, Nikita Nesterenko made it 4-3 after putting in a loose puck at 17:19.

A chance to tie the game early in the third period, following a five-minute major and game-misconduct on Leo Carlsson for a hit to the head on Rodrigues, the Panthers were unable to cash in.

Putting the game out of reach soon after, the Ducks saw goals from Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, and Janson Harkins in just over a three-minute span from 11:43 to 14:47.

“The third period was not our best,” said Luostarinen. “We just have to get over it, recover and go to the next game.”

THEY SAID IT

“Everybody has factors that they deal with at the start of each year.” – Paul Maurice

“They just capitalized. They played well and scored off the chances they had.” – Eetu Luostarinen

CATS STATS

- The Panthers owned an 8-2 on high-danger opportunities advantage in the first period, per NaturalStatTrick.com

- Seth Jones led the Panthers with 22:19 time on ice

- Anton Lundell and Donovan Sebrango each had three blocked shots

- A.J. Greer and Eetu Luostarinen had four hits

- Cole Schwindt won 54.5% of his faceoffs

WHAT’S NEXT?

The California tour continues.

On Thursday, the Panthers will take on the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena at 10 p.m. ET.

For Cats on Tap, click HERE.