Second-period issues continue to plague Florida Panthers. This is what’s next team

Beat the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on the road one night and lose to the previously winless Detroit Red Wings at home the next — that’s how things are going for the Florida Panthers.

Gustav Nyquist scored with 1:16 left in overtime as the Wings beat the Panthers 4-3 on Saturday night.

The Wings are 1-5-2, but that’s expected for this proud franchise that is rebuilding and likely headed for a third straight season without a playoff berth.

But the Panthers (1-2-3) are different. They are supposed to make the playoffs this season, at minimum. Several national experts predicted a long playoff run for the Cats.

There’s still time for all of that, but Florida’s winless start in three home games is troubling.

Florida got goals on Saturday from Keith Yandle, Nick Bjugstad and Mike Hoffman, whose score with 1:16 left in the third sent the game to overtime. Goalie Michael Hutchinson, making his second start this week, posted 25 saves and came up just short of his second win of the season — not bad for a guy who started the year in the American Hockey League.

Here are three more takeaways as the Panthers prepare to embark on a road trip that begins Tuesday at the New York Rangers:

▪ 1: Bad Break, ‘Barky’: Trailing 3-2 with 18:11 left in the third period, the Panthers had a chance to tie the score. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov was awarded a penalty shot after he got free for a breakaway and was hooked from behind by Dennis Cholowski.

But Barkov twice lost control of the puck and offered just a weak penalty shot that was easily stopped.

“That looked like it just slipped off his stick,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “The ice was getting choppy.”

Barkov led all Panthers forwards in ice time on Saturday with 23:37. He also played 25:26 the previous night.

“You could tell he was getting tired toward the second half of [Saturday’s] game,” Boughner said. “But you don’t want any [other player] to have three breakaways in a game than Barky.”

▪ 2: Terrible Twos: It’s an incredible statistic. In three games this week, the Panthers were outscored 11-3 in the second period.

Without that second period, the Panthers go 3-0-0 this week instead of 1-0-2. Instead, they have to live with the knowledge that they got outscored in that terrible second period 5-2 by the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 by Washington and 3-0 by Detroit.

“I think it’s been our second period almost every game,” Hoffman said, correctly. “We come out strong. We come out with the lead, and then we seem to let it slip in the second period.

“We’re just letting up a little too much in the second. Other teams have been making the push they need, and we haven’t been able to manage it so far.”

3: Precarious Position: The Panthers were leading 2-0 in that fateful second period when they were hit with a pair of penalties, giving Detroit a two-man advantage. Bogdan Kiselevich was whistled for high sticking, but Boughner seemed to be particularly upset that another one of his defensemen, Mike Matheson, was called for hooking to give the Wings the 5-3 edge in on-ice personnel.

“Two nothing, you can’t take a 5-on-3 (penalty) – it’s dumb,” Boughner said of the call on Matheson, who played his first game since sitting out two contests for an NHL suspension. “It’s a dumb penalty. It let them back in the game. It gave some life to a team that hadn’t won yet.”

Indeed, Detroit tied the score with two power-play goals within 18 seconds. Cholowski scored first, followed by a goal from former Panthers winger Thomas Vanek.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game,” Boughner said. “But you can’t take a 5-on-3 and change momentum.”