‘They’re kicking our a— right now’: Panthers skid continues with fifth loss in six games

Matthew Tkachuk missed one chance to pull the Florida Panthers back to life when a snap shot right into Alexandar Georgiev’s right leg pad and then he did all he could to try to squeeze a second chance into the net. He darted toward goal net, looked for the loose puck and tried to push it past Georgiev, and the Colorado Avalanche collapsed on him.

Miles Wood tried to push Tkachuk away from his goaltender and Tkachuk was fed up. The star right wing threw a flurry of jabs at the Avalanche defenseman and the officials sent both of them to the penalty box, Tkachuk scowling as he left the ice with time ticking away and the Panthers tumbling to a 7-4 loss for their fifth loss in six games.

“They are taking it to us right,” Tkachuk said. “It’s not fun being on our side right now.”

The midseason swoon finally arrived for defending-champion Florida this week and a recent stretch of tough losses culminated with perhaps the toughest one yet Saturday in Sunrise. The Panthers (12-8-1) blew an early lead, missed out on close call after close call, had a crucial would-be goal called back in the third period for goaltender interference and ended up dropping their third straight game for the first time this season.

Florida, which won 10 of 12 before this recent skid started with a home loss to the Devils on Nov. 12, now sits in second place in the Atlantic Division after stumbling through the better part of two weeks, with five losses by 15 combined goals.

“We got away with it maybe some previous games earlier in the season, playing against non-playoff teams. Now we’re playing playoff teams and they’re kicking our [expletive] right now because we’re not playing our style,” Tkachuk said. “We’ve got to get back to that or it’s going to be more of the same.”

Unlike in most of their recent losses, the Panthers got off to a scoring start this weekend. Forward Carter Verhaeghe scored just 52 seconds into the game on Florida’s first shot and the Panthers generated seven scoring chances in the opening period. The Panthers even took a 2-1 lead into the second period after All-Star center Aleksander Barkov scored a gorgeous goal by batting the puck out of the air after it bounced off of Georgiev’s right shoulder.

The lead lasted less than a minute into the second period. Colorado winger Jonathan Drouin scored 34 seconds into the second—his second goal of the game and season—to tie the game at 2-2 and Florida never regained its balance.

The Avalanche (12-9-0) scored three more times in the period—five goals on its first 19 shots—and a smattering of boos rippled across the 18,638 inside Amerant Bank Arena after Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen put Colorado up 5-2 with 3:02 left in the second.

The Panthers did score before the end of the period to go into the second intermission down only 5-3 and briefly seemed to cut the lead down to 5-4 when Tkachuk tipped in a goal in the opening seconds of a 5-on-3 power play, but officials quickly waved off the goal for goaltender interference. Florida’s challenge was unsuccessful—Tkachuk had his left leg in the crease and Georgiev got his stick trapped between the winger’s legs—and the Panthers never could muster more of a comeback.

“I wouldn’t feel differently about the game if we had come back and won it,” coach Paul Maurice said.

Although Florida finished with a 31-25 edge in shots, Colorado was outshooting the Panthers, 19-10, after two periods. For yet another loss, Florida was never really competitive.

Still only a few months removed from a Stanley Cup, the Panthers aren’t ready to panic, but they are frustrated by the way their last two weeks have gone. They know they can be—should be—better and they hate that they’re not even playing well in these losses.

They have time to fix it and now, for the first time this year, they feel a real sense of urgency to play better.

“We know how to play our game. We just have to find a way to get to it on a more consistent basis,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “There are moments in seasons when you have these kind of stretches and it’s never easy.”