Rare Panthers stumble halts six-game streak
Radko Gudas shook his head in disbelief from thePanthers’ bench after the sort of gaffe they’ve avoidedthroughout this charmed season bit them in the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes.
shot by Jordan Staal squirted past Sergei Bobrovsky and sat on the goal line, and Gudas swept it away from behind the net. He hopped back in front of the goal to try to clear and Owen
Tippett had the same idea. They collided and the puck bounced back into the goal, putting Florida behind for the first time Tuesday.
This time, the Panthers were the victims of a comeA back and the Hurricanes pulled out a 5-2 win in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Florida’s first loss of April ends its season-best six-game winning streak and moves the Hurricanes within one point of the Panthers for first place in the Central Division,
with one fewer game played.
While Florida (26-10-4) has charged into a tie for first place in the NHL, the Panthers have now dropped 4 of 5 to Carolina, with three of the five going to overtime. Their latest loss was the most lopsided after the Hurricanes (26-9-4) scored a pair of empty-net goals in the final minutes after scoring two power-play goals in the second and third periods.
After more than a week of beating up on the dregs of the Central, Florida faced a road test against a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and traded blows before coming up short once again.
Their six-game winning streak in the last two weeks fueled the Panthers’ rise into a tie for the league’s points lead. It was a run that both answered questions about Florida’s resolve, but left an opening to wonder about how the still-shorthanded Panthers will fare against the league’s best teams.
Star center Aleksander Barkov and right wing Patric Hornqvist missed the first four games with injuries, and star defenseman Aaron Ekblad — out for nearly three months
with a leg fracture — missed the last four. Florida proved it could win shorthanded, albeit against the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets — three bad teams with slim playoff prospects.
The Panthers’ road trip will answer questions about how Florida can fare without Ekblad longterm. It begins with two games against the Hurricanes and concludes with two against the Tampa Bay Lightning next week. Both teams are Cup contenders and the Panthers’ primary competition in the division.
It started with MacKenzie Weegar doing his best Ekblad impression.
Florida owned most of the first period at PNC Arena and pushed down the ice for its best opportunity about 11 minutes in. Barkov rushed down the left boards and centered a pass to Weegar. The defenseman deked to his left, dragged the puck around and past a defender, and flipped a shot at Petr Mrazek. Barkov jumped on the rebound and beat the Hurricanes goaltender to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead with 8:41 left in the period.
Ekblad, who was tied for the league lead in goals among defensemen at the time of his injury, was so important to Florida’s top-five offense and Weegar continues to replicate
his former linemate with five points in five games since the injury.
The top line created Florida’s only other goal with 1:30 left in the second period. The Panthers’ lead was gone for all of 27 seconds after a power-play goal for Carolina and Florida’s top grouping applied pressure.
Weegar won a loose puck in the neutral zone and Mason Marchment drove down the left side. The left wing dropped a pass back to star forward Carter Verhaeghe, who threaded a perfectly placed one-timer to Barkov to put Florida back ahead 2-1 with 1:30 left in the period.
“It was a huge shift from our top line,” defenseman Radko Gudas told Bally Sports Florida. “It’s fun to watch them, some of the plays they make.”
While the final seconds ticked away in the second, the Panthers committed another penalty and the Hurricanes started the third on the power play.
Carolina, whose power play is the best in the league, capitalized with a goal by forward Vincent Trocheck, who has now scored in all five of his games against his former team, to tie the score at
2-2. The Hurricanes closed with four unanswered goals in the third period, including two empty-net tallies, to end Florida’s winning streak and tighten the playoff race.