Panthers give up three third-period goals, end preseason with consecutive losses to Lightning
The preseason is over. The final tune-up is complete.
The next time the Florida Panthers are on the ice at FLA Live Arena, the games will count. The quest for a Stanley Cup will begin.
“That’s what it’s all about,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “There’s some things you want to make sure you get through before you exit training camp and leave on a positive note. Guys want to play real games.”
The three-week lead-up to Thursday’s season opener gave plenty of reason for optimism as the Panthers look to build on last season’s postseason berth even though they ended on a losing streak.
The Panthers closed out the preseason with a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Florida went 5-2-0 in its seven-game slate ahead of the regular season. This included a 1-2-0 mark in three games this week against the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions. The Panthers won 3-2 in Orlando on Tuesday and lost 6-2 in Tampa on Thursday before Saturday’s finale.
The Lightning scored three unanswered goals in the third period, two on the power play, for the come-from-behind victory.
Florida out-shot Tampa Bay 47-29, with Kevin Connauton and Sam Reinhart scoring goals in the second period against Andrei Vasilevskiy for the Panthers.
Connauton opened scoring with a shot through traffic from just beyond the left circle 4:51 into the second period. The defenseman appeared to be on track to securing an Opening Night roster spot after opening training camp on the bubble, but suffered a lower-body injury that Quenneville said could sideline him for a week or two.
Reinhart, playing right wing on Florida’s top line with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, scored the Panthers’ go-ahead goal about three minutes later when he took a feed from Verhaeghe and snapped a shot from the slot over Vasilevskiy’s right shoulder.
“Tonight was important for us,” Reinhart said. “I think in the offensive zone, we had a little bit more opportunity and a little bit more reads. We were able to extend some plays when we found each other in the right spot. That’s a key moving forward for us.
But Tampa Bay tied the game at 2-2 one minute into the third period on a Brayden Point goal before Pat Maroon scored back-to-back power play goals within a span of 1:57 to give the Lightning the lead for good. Alex Killorn scored Tampa Bay’s first goal in the second period.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 29 shots that came his way, including 18 of 19 in the first two periods.
This and that
▪ Sam Bennett, who normally centers the Panthers’ second forward line with wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Owen Tippett, did not play Saturday due to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Joe Thornton took Bennett’s spot on that line. It is worth noting that Quenneville said at the start of training camp that the club has a 100-percent vaccination rate.
▪ Quenneville said Anton Lundell played “really, really good” on Saturday in his second preseason game. The rookie center worked primarily with veteran wingers Frank Vatrano and Patric Hornqvist and received time on the penalty kill. He finished with one shot on goal, two takeaways and two blocked shots.
“I felt pretty good,” Lundell said. “We had good challenges with our line. Pretty close but not today. We didn’t score, but we had good chances.”
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 8:39 PM.
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