Takeaways as Panthers blow multi-goal lead and lose to Ducks in overtime
Twice the Florida Panthers found themselves up multiple goals on Monday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks. For a team that prides itself on being a defense-first team, that should have been enough.
It wasn’t.
The Ducks rallied to erase both two-goal deficits and then Alex Killorn scored the game-winning goal 48 seconds into overtime, to beat the Panthers 5-4 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida falls to 27-13-7 and has dropped back-to-back games on the heels of a nine-game win streak. Anaheim improves to 15-27-1.
“They dictated it,” said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who scored a shorthanded goal in the first period to give the Panthers their first two-goal lead of the game. “They wanted [the game] open and we’re not going to win hockey games like that.”
Anaheim first tied the game at 2-2 5:24 into the second period after Florida built a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Ducks then knotted the game up again 3:45 into the third period after Florida had gone up 4-2 with a pair of second-period goals.
After both teams were held off the scoreboard for the final 16:15 of regulation, Anaheim won it on a second effort from Killorn in the opening minute of overtime.
“We had a good first period,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, “and then I thought we were a little arrogant with the puck in the second. We were getting beat one on one. If you get beat one on one, that’s a tell that something else is going on.”
In addition to Killorn, who scored twice, Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim against Florida’s Anthony Stolarz, who made 21 saves.
Sam Bennett scored twice for the Panthers — once on the power play, once at even strength — to log his first multi-goal game of the season, while Carter Verhaeghe added a goal and an assist for the Panthers in addition to Reinhart’s shorthanded goal.
But it wasn’t enough to get past a scrappy Ducks team that had lost seven of its past eight games.
“We took it too lightly,” Bennett said. “We got up by a couple of goals and started playing a little too comfortable. We just let them hang around and hang around and we didn’t play hard enough.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Another record for Sam Reinhart
Reinhart has been setting individual feats all season en route to being named an NHL All-Star for the first time in his career. That comes with the territory when you score 32 goals — one shy of your single-season career high — a little more than halfway into a season.
He got another record on Monday.
With his shorthanded goal in the first period, Reinhart became the first player in NHL history to score a special teams goal in seven consecutive games. He scored on the power play in the first six games of this run.
It was just one facet of an overall good day for the Panthers’ special teams units, with Florida scoring twice on the power play and once shorthanded.
The Panthers did, however, give up a shorthanded goal — their NHL-leading eighth shorthanded goal allowed.
This marks the third time in franchise history the Panthers have scored twice on the power play, scored a shorthanded goal and given up a shorthanded goal. The other two: a 7-6 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 5, 2022, and a 5-2 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 15, 1994.
Florida has now scored on the power play in nine consecutive games. Monday was the seventh time this season — and third time during this nine-game stretch — with multiple power-play goals in a game.
Florida also held the Ducks scoreless on all five of their power-play opportunities.
Aleksander Barkov’s injury
Captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov did not play in the final 5:47 of regulation or the 48 seconds of overtime due to what Maurice described as a lower-body injury that tightened up on him during the game.
“He’s been dealing with something that we don’t want it to get worse,” Maurice said. “And it didn’t. I think we got him [out] early enough.”
Maurice said he anticipates Barkov being available on Wednesday when the Panthers host the Detroit Red Wings for the fourth game of their five-game homestand that wraps up on Friday against the Minnesota Wild.
Josh Mahura draws into lineup
Defenseman Josh Mahura on Monday played for the first time since Dec. 16, drawing into the lineup for Dmitry Kulikov who is dealing with an unspecified injury.
It was just Mahura’s second time playing since sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. 16, the day before Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour made their season debuts after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. That pushed Mahura down to No. 7 on the Panthers’ depth chart among defensemen.
Mahura on Monday primarily played with Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the blue line and was on the ice for 12:29.
This story was originally published January 15, 2024 at 3:50 PM.
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