Paul Maurice breaks down Florida Panthers’ ‘mixed bag’ performance against Seattle Kraken
The Florida Panthers had their opportunities. They just couldn’t cash in.
That, in essence, sums up their 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday in their first game in two weeks following the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Florida’s attack came out in waves against Seattle, putting up 64 total shot attempts to 45 by the Kraken. However, of those 64 shot attempts, only 27 got to the net.
“We missed the net on a whole bunch of our better chances,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
Maurice called the night overall “a bit of a mixed bag,” which he was expecting to be the case entering the game. The team last played on Feb. 8 and hasn’t had a full team practice with everyone in attendance since. Florida had a league-high eight players take part in the 4 Nations Face-Off, the NHL-created tournament that served as a way for the league to ease back into international best-on-best play ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Inconsistency, as a result, showed up on the ice Saturday as the Panthers (34-21-3) tried to regain the rhythm they had before the break when they had won eight of their previous 11 games.
“There was some sloppiness,” Maurice said. “Just couldn’t get a handle on some pretty basic things. That would make sense. We haven’t had a full team practice yet [since the break]. It was just OK. There’s not a trend there that I’m worried about.”
That said, the Panthers were in the game from start to finish. After falling behind 1-0 early when Seattle’s Kaapo Kakko scored on the power play in the first period, Florida tied it up 11:37 into the second when Eetu Luostarinen scored on a feed from Anton Lundell.
The Panthers appeared to take a 2-1 lead with 3:05 left in the middle frame on a Mackie Samoskevich goal from the slot, but the go-ahead goal was called off following a Seattle challenge for goaltender interference. Video review determined Evan Rodrigues, who was pushed into the goalie crease by Seattle defenseman Josh Mahura, impeded Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord’s ability to play his position.
“I heard the explanation,” Maurice said. “We can’t touch a goalie in the blue paint. And I guess we did.”
Seattle took the lead for good when Jared McCann scored 7:03 into the third period.
“It was a tough game,” Lundell said. “I just feel like we couldn’t use our chances and score goals.”
The Panthers next travel to Nashville to play the Predators on Tuesday. They will play their next five games after that at home, starting with a Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
This and that
▪ Despite the loss, Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky gave up just two goals on 22 shots against. It was his sixth time in his past seven starts that he gave up two goals or fewer. Bobrovsky has a .933 save percentage (168 saves on 180 shots on goal) in that span.
▪ With a secondary assist on the Luostarinen goal, defenseman Niko Mikkola now has 18 points this season, a new career-high. He had 17 points in the 2023-24 season.
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