Panthers can’t hold lead, on the brink of elimination

Sergei Bobrovsky leaned his left arm on his stick and exhaled as he watched a mob gather around Jordan Eberle.

For nearly 35 minutes, Bobrovsky had played nearly flawless in goal to keep the Panthers ahead deep into the second period of a Game 2 dubbed “do-or-die” by Mike Hoffman. Now he and the Panthers were skidding to a 4-2 loss, and staring down a potential early exit from the expanded postseason.

Florida had scored first — top priority against the defensive-minded New York Islanders — and clung to a lead late in the second period until one penalty and Bobrovsky’s first real mistake of the series sent the Panthers unraveling. Ryan Pulock first beat Bobrovsky on a power-play one-timer with 6:12 left in the period. Not even three minutes later, Eberle beat the goaltender after the defense let the right wing get a clean look near the net. Florida had led for most of the game and now it was once again playing from behind against one of the best defenses in the NHL.

“It kind of seemed like we slowed down a bit when they scored their power-play goal to make it 2-2,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “We were doing what we needed to do and then playing catch-up against them.”

The Panthers failed to score for the last 42 minutes and the Islanders added an insurance goal on another power play with 9:31 left in the game. Florida is now just one loss away from elimination after twice blowing a onegoal lead Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena. By

The Panthers gave up three unanswered goals, two on power plays, in a 4-2 loss to the Islanders, and now face an elimination game Wednesday at noon in the best-of-5 series.

Wednesday afternoon, the Panthers’ season — upand-down and ultimately underwhelming all the way until the end — could be over if they can’t win

Game 3 of this best-of-five series at noon in Toronto.

“I definitely think we have the talent to do it in this group,” Hoffman said. “Bob’s been playing well for us, so we know that’s going to be there for us. It’s up to us guys up front to put the puck in the net and I think we’ve got a ton of guys that are able to do so, and it’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a great opportunity.”

For more than 30 minutes, Florida did everything it set out to do following its Game 1 loss Saturday. Hoffman gave the Panthers the lead on a goal with

8:44 left in the first period.

After New York evened the score in the second, center Aleksander Barkov quickly put Florida back ahead by finally capitalizing on a power-play opportunity. Bobrovsky was virtually unbeatable in net, too, stopping all 13 shots he faced in the first period and only getting beaten after a disastrous defensive-zone turnover left the goalie staring down two Islanders with no defensive help in sight.

With 6:17 left in the second period, Bobrovsky — and the Panthers’ penalty-kill unit — finally broke. After killing off the first three penalties it faced, Florida left Pulock unmarked at the left point and the defenseman let loose a slap shot. Bobrovsky had a clean look at the puck, but it slid past his left pad to tie the game again at 2-2.

A few minutes later,

New York took the lead for good. Eberle squared up near the left faceoff circle with Noel Acciari in his face. The Panthers center sprawled for a block attempt and Eberle let him pass. The Islander saw open space and ripped the decisive goal past the twotime Vezina Trophy winner with 3:33 left in the second.

Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves, but he gave up three goals on the last 13 shots he faced. The Islanders outshot the Panthers 34-26 and had seven power-play opportunities, cashing in on two.

THE GOOD: HUBERDEAU, BARKOV

Florida’s performance Tuesday was largely a reverse of Saturday. In Game 1, the Panthers took more than 10 minutes to put a shot on goal against Semyon Varlamov. In Game 2, they spent the first five minutes living in New York’s zone and nearly scored with 14:19 left in the first period when Barkov threaded a perfect centering pass to winger Evgenii Dadonov, who missed the net on a wideopen opportunity.

Hoffman eventually got Florida on the board, four seconds after its first power play of the game ended. In the second period, the Panthers converted their first power-play goal of the series after starting 0 for 2.

Barkov lined up an open shot from near the left penalty circle and sniped it perfectly. He found the top left corner of the net to beat Varlamov while AllStar left wing Jonathan Huberdeau screened the former All-Star goaltender and blocked his vision.

Before the five-game series began, Quenneville reunited Barkov and Huberdeau on the top line, and the forward tandem has been the closest thing Florida has had to reliable offense. Huberdeau scored the Panthers’ only goal of Game 1. Then Barkov put Florida up in the second period Tuesday. So far, the two have combined for two goals, two assists and nine shots, and been a collective plus-4.

“They had a little stretch there where they got the momentum and they scored. Barky scores a huge power-play goal,” Quenneville said. “I thought we were in good shape right then.”

THE BAD: TOO MANY PENALTIES

Quenneville felt the Panthers played well immediately following Barkov’s goal. Florida recorded the next three shots and outshot New York 4-2 until Hoffman committed a penalty with 6:59 left in the period. Less than a minute into the power play, Pulock tied the game.

The Panthers played 10:02 shorthanded Tuesday and gave the Islanders four more power plays than they had. Florida mostly did well on the penalty kill, but all the time playing shorthanded made a comeback near impossible in the third period.

“Penalties — they cost us in this game, too,” Barkov said. “They get to play on the power play, get to put their best players on the ice.”

New York’s second power-play goal effectively iced its victory. The Panthers began the third on the penalty kill and defenseman Anton Stralman committed another penalty almost as soon as the Islanders’ first power play ended.

Florida weathered it, then skated freely for about five minutes before defenseman MacKenzie Weegar committed another with 10:50 to go.

On its 10th power play of the series, New York converted for the third time, as forward Anthony Beauviller shot from the left circle and Eberle deflected it past Bobrovsky.

“Our kill has been trying hard and working their hardest,” defenseman Keith Yandle said, “but I think for us to be successful we’ve just got to stay out of the box.”