As Panthers drop third consecutive game, coach Paul Maurice knows things need to be fixed ‘real quick’
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers had four days to reset and try to turn the page as they head into the home stretch of the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Instead, the Panthers had more of the same issues on Thursday that plagued them last week and it cost them in a 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers (45-20-4) have now lost three consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season. The Predators (41-25-4) have picked up points in each of their past 16 games — a franchise record.
“We’re not close right now,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I’ve got lots of faith that we can get them there, but we’re not close to our game right now.”
Gustav Nyquist and Filip Forsberg scored Nashville’s goals, while Predators goaltender Kevin Lankinen stopped all 33 shots he faced from the Panthers, who were without captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury).
But beyond the final score, Florida’s game followed a similar blueprint as all three of their games last week — a stretch in which they had to rally from a three-goal deficit to beat the Dallas Stars and then fell flat in losses to the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Panthers were slow out of the gate, with Nashville dominating possession in the first period and holding Florida to just five shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, with Nashville taking a 1-0 lead when Nyquist jammed a puck in the crease past Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky with 2:13 left in the frame.
Over the past four games, the Panthers have been outscored 5-0 in the first period. “We’ve been coming out a little bit slow,” defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said.
“We don’t have to win the game in the first period, but [we have to] just kind of get going and not wait around.”
The Panthers were more aggressive in the second and third periods, outshooting the Predators 28-23 over the final 40 minutes, but couldn’t get anything past Lankinen. Forsberg scored a pair of insurance goals for Nashville — first on the power play 7:32 into the second period and then at full strength with 5:41 left to play.
But overall, there was little continuity in the Panthers’ game on Thursday. Sloppy passing leading to 22 giveaways didn’t help, either.
“It’s tough to get your legs going when you’re turning pucks over and skating in the other direction,” Maurice said. “Listen, it’s easy to be angry. I would just say that I do care about them and have lots of faith in them, but we’re not going anywhere playing the game that we’re playing right now. We’re gonna get that fixed real quick.”
The sooner the better because the schedule isn’t going to get any easier. Thursday was the first of 10 games over a 17-day stretch. Of those 10 games, seven are against team who entered Thursday in a playoff spot, including two games against the Boston Bruins.
Next up in that stretch is a quick, two-day road trip against the New York Rangers on Saturday and Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
“I think it’s good for us to have that schedule ahead of us,” Ekman-Larsson said. “Obviously, we’d love to come out a little bit better here tonight with a little bit of rest and a couple of days off, but I think it’s going to be important on this stretch here that we really bump our game up.”
