Panthers’ faint playoff hopes dealt huge blow with a loss to the worst team in NHL

This time there would be no blown third-period leads or three consecutive deflating losses in overtime or shootouts.

It was far worse.

This time, the Panthers, desperately clinging to a faint playoff bid, were unable to overcome a comatose second period before losing to the lowly Ottawa Senators 3-2 Sunday night at a quiet BB&T Center.

In the final frantic seconds in which the Panthers pulled goalie Roberto Luongo for a brief 6-on-4 advantage, former Senators star Mike Hoffman fired one off the post. A few seconds after the final buzzer, sounding more like a bugle playing taps on the Panthers, Hoffman angrily fired the puck off the end boards in disgust.

“Maybe we weren’t in the best shape, but it’s the NHL and some games you don’t feel the greatest,” said Hoffman, who leads the Panthers with 30 goals and is one of five leading scorers from Ottawa last season now playing with other teams.

“You got to be able to go out there and find ways to put points on the board. … Obviously, this is kind of an unacceptable loss. We got to find a way to win these hockey games.’’

The glum look on the face of general manager Dale Tallon seemed to tell the story of his team, which needs a miracle stretch run or face missing the playoffs for the sixth time in the past seven seasons. They trail the Montreal Canadiens by 10 points with three games in hand for the final wild-card berth, but with just 17 games remaining.

The Panthers will embark on a quick two-game trip against the star-laden Penguins (77 points), who they also trail by 10 points, and then the Bruins, who have all but locked up a playoff berth with 87 points.

The Senators (league-low 51 points) had lost seven in a row while being outscored 33-13. The Panthers entered on a five-game point streak and were 5-1-3 in their past nine.

“There wasn’t a lot of gas in the tank at all,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “We were all worried about that being the fifth game of the week, and all the travel. Saying that, we won the first period 2-1. I was pretty happy about the first period. The second was our worst I thought.”

The Senators also played Saturday night and got blown out by the NHL-leading Lightning 5-1 in interim coach Marc Crawford’s first game behind the bench after taking over for the fired Guy Boucher.

The Senators took a 1-0 lead at 5:10 of the first period when Zack Smith found a rebound at the corner of the net and flicked it off Luongo.

The Panthers responded four minutes later when Aleksander Barkov gathered a rebound of Mark Pysyk’s wrist shot and deflected it past Senators backup goalie Anders Nilsson (30 saves) for his 28th goal.

“I don’t want any excuses,” Barkov said. “A couple of bad mistakes cost us goals, and we just couldn’t score. I don’t think the problem was [a sense of] urgency. Of course, disappointing. We need to forget this game and move forward.”

At 15:36, a turnover at the blue line set up a give-and-go rush by Riley Sheehan and Troy Brouwer, with Brouwer finding the corner for his ninth goal and a 2-1 lead after the first period.

The Panthers skated as if they had anvils attached to their blades in the second period. The Senators tied it when Cody Ceci centered to winger Brian Gibbons, who snapped it in from the low slot.

Then at 17:45, rookie Rudolfs Balcers redirected a long shot by defenseman Dylan DeMelo for a 3-2 lead entering the (scoreless) third period.

Diaz drops puck

The Panthers lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday and couldn’t even give new Miami Hurricanes football coach Manny Diaz a victory after he dropped the ceremonial first puck.

“Growing up in the ’80s in Miami hockey was hard to find. When I lived in Connecticut, I got into deck hockey or floor hockey and played in a league when I lived in North Carolina,” said Diaz, who has a Panthers jersey hanging in his office.

Diaz said he has been very busy and is preparing for the upcoming spring practices.

“Those guys have really bought into what we’re doing,” he said. “The momentum is fun but ultimately the games are coming. … The morale and mentality of the team is where we want it to be.”