Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Panthers fail to cash in chances in loss to Wings
The box score only told part of the story during the Florida Panthers’ 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night. Despite seemingly dominating the game, the Panthers lost their second consecutive game during a four-game road trip.
Florida outshot the Red Wings, 40-19. During 5-on-5 play, Florida had 55 shot attempts to Detroit’s 35. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Panthers had 17 scoring chances. The Red Wings only had 10.
But Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard made 38 saves while his Panthers counterpart, James Reimer, only made 15.
“We had our chances,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner told reporters in Detroit. “We had 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s and on our power play, I thought we executed well. We had chances. Howard was good and we got to bear down.”
The refrain has become familiar for the Panthers (17-18-5, 39 points) this season, who will try to bounce back Sunday evening against Columbus. In the first half of the season, Florida has outshot its opponent 18 times. The Panthers are just 5-10-3.
Friday was the second game this season the Panthers had at least 20 more shots on goal than their opponent. The other was at Anaheim on Nov. 19. Florida lost both games.
“Throughout the game, we had so many chances that we should have buried,” said Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson, who scored his fourth goal of the season on Friday night. “I think that’s the area that we really didn’t do a good job Scouting report: The Florida Panthers will try to snap a two-game losing streak when they make their first visit to Columbus this season to face the scuffling Blue Jackets, who have lost four of their past five games. The Panthers lost 4-2 on Friday night in Detroit despite outshooting the Red Wings, 40-19. Mike Matheson scored a highlight-reel goal to end the second period and Aleksander Barkov added one in the third period. … In a Nov. 2 meeting in Sunrise, the Blue Jackets embarrassed Florida, 7-3 during the worst two-game stretch of the Panthers’ season. Columbus’ last-place power play scored twice in that game as the Blue Jackets scored four unanswered goals to pull away. … The Blue Jackets have been shut out twice in their past three games as they jostle for position in a crowded Metropolitan Division. Artemi Panarin leads the Blue Jackets with 34 points in 42 games. … Columbus is without Cam Atkinson (foot), Brandon Dubinsky (face) and Alexander Wennberg (back). Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo (lower-body) is not expected back until at least late January. of.”
Aleksander Barkov fired a career-high 10 shots on goal, ultimately notching his 12th goal of the season in the third period. The only Panthers who didn’t have shots on goal were Nick Bjugstad and Aaron Ekblad, though Ekblad missed the net three times and had two shots blocked.
The Red Wings, meanwhile, capitalized on their opportunities. When Andreas Athanasiou sped past Ekblad in the game’s first minute, he beat Reimer. When Gustav Nyquist had a third-period breakaway, he slipped the puck between Reimer’s legs.
“I think the whole game was in our hands and we played a great game,” Barkov said. “We had a lot of chances. Myself, I had too many chances. We need to score more.”
Generally, shots on goal and shot attempts have been better indications of how a team is playing. Goals decide games, but can be fluky sometimes, meaning using larger samples of shots and shot attempts can be more predictive.
But for the Panthers this season, it hasn’t been. On Friday, they had 61.1 percent of 5-on-5 shot attempts, the highest single-game figure since the second game of the season, when Florida had 66.3 percent of 5-on-5 shot attempts in a win over Tampa Bay.
The Panthers are 5-8-3 when they have more 5-on-5 shot attempts this season.
“I can’t really sit here and complain about how we played,” Boughner said. “We only gave up 19 shots. I just wish that we had a little puck luck, I guess.”
Part of the reason is the Panthers’ lack of elite finishers. As a team, the Panthers own a 8.0 percent shooting percentage, ranking ahead of just four other teams. The NHL average is 9.2 percent.
Of Florida’s 24 players with a shot on goal this season, only seven have an above-average shooting percentage. Denis Malgin (17.9 percent on 28 shots), Ian McCoshen (13.6 percent on 22 shots) and Connor Brickley (10.8 percent on 37 shots) will likely see their numbers dip with larger sample sizes.
“They buried the chances that they had and we didn’t,” Boughner said. “That’s the bottom line.”