Five Takeaways from Panthers loss to Kraken

SUNRISE: On the second half of a back-to-back, the Florida Panthers hosted the Seattle Kraken Sunday night in Sunrise.

This is the second time the two sides played this month; Florida won the first meeting 5-1 in Seattle. 

The Kraken got their revenge tonight, putting up five goals of their own in a 5-2 win over the Panthers.

Here’s tonight’s takeaways:

Eric Staal gets his first goal of the season

It hasn’t been the easiest start to his Panthers career for long-time NHL veteran Eric Staal. He was goalless through 21 games this season, with only four points to his name.

The 38-year-old center, who has over 1,000 career points, finally put the puck in the back of the net to get his first goal as a Panther. This was Staal’s first NHL goal since 2021.

You could see how much getting this one meant for him, as he let out an ecstatic celebration following the goal.

A bad start had Florida behind way too early

A team never wants to go down in a game, but when you’re playing catch up from the jump, you lose the momentum swing early. 

Seattle came out and had the perfect start to the game, scoring 64 seconds into the first period. 

After Carter Verhaeghe rifled a one-timer shot off the crossbar, Seattle transitioned the other way, and Matty Beniers delivered. The 20-year-old fired a slapshot from the slot, beating Bobrovsky up high for his 11th goal of the season.

Before some fans could make way to their seats, the Panthers were already behind in the game. 

Ryan Lomberg gets a major penalty and a game misconduct – the league will look at it

Down 3-1 in the third, Florida had no momentum, the crowd was out of it, the entire team looked defeated.

With the Panthers on the penalty kill, Cats forward Ryan Lomberg chipped the puck into the zone past Justin Schultz. With the puck in the corner, Lomberg hit Schultz from behind, which lead to a large scrum of bodies fighting in front of the Kraken net. 

Following the mayhem, Lomberg was assessed a five-minute major for boarding, a roughing minor, and a game misconduct.

Due to the call being a major penalty, the league will review the hit and determine if it is worthy of a suspension. The already shorthanded Panthers forward unit could be without another regular depending on the league’s decision. 

The Panthers power play couldn’t strike, again

The power play had their opportunities tonight. Down 2-1 in the third, Florida had a chance to tie the game on the man-advantage. However, the Kraken not only killed off the penalty, but immediately scored after to extend their lead to two.  

Florida went 0/3 on the power play tonight. This is the third straight game they went scoreless on their pp chances. 

Florida has one goal in their last 14 power play chances.

Sergei Bobrovsky plays both games on the back-to-back

After Sergei Bobrovsky had to come in for Spencer Knight last week in Winnipeg, the Russian goalie has started three games in four days, including a back-to-back.

Knight is still out of the Panthers lineup as he deals with a non-COVID illness, and with no update on the availability of Knight, Bob is going to keep on playing. 

While the stats department hasn’t looked the greatest, Bob looked quite comfortable in the net. Tonight, he had to make more than a few big saves while the game was close. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of support in front of him on both ends of the puck. 

“I felt good, it’s nice to see some rhythm, you know, play hockey, play lots of minutes, I love that so it’s great to be there fo sure,” Bobrovsky said. 

Bobrovsky had 27 saves on 31 shots tonight.