After winning seven games in a row, Florida has now lost each of their past two
After winning seven games in a row, Florida has now lost each of their past two
The Florida Panthers took one on the chin this week from the New Jersey Devils.
After getting dropped by the Devils 4-1 on Tuesday night, Florida came back and found a similar effort on Thursday, falling 6-2 to New Jersey.
For the second straight game, it was Devils jumping out to a first period lead on the Cats.
Stefan Noesen jumped on the rebound of a Luke Hughes point shot and shoveled it over a sprawling Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at the 10:01 mark.
Just over two minutes later, Jesper Boqvist took a cross-ice pass from Matthew Tkachuk and undressed Dougie Hamilton before deking around Jake Allen to tie the game at one.
An offensive zone slashing penalty on Carter Verhaeghe in the final minute of the period led to another Devils goal, as Jesper Bratt beat Bobrovsky over his blocker with just 2.0 seconds on the clock to send the visitors into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Sam Reinhart’s 13th goal of the young season tied the game at two, but a Jack Hughes power play goal just over a minutes later put the Devils right back in front.
It was a lucky bounce for New Jersey, as Hughes’ centering pass deflected off the skate of Dmitry Kulikov and past Bobrovsky.
Another Devils power play late in the period would lead to another New Jersey goal, this one coming off the stick of Noesen for his second of the night. Niko Mikkola was hot after being called for tripping Jack Hughes, and replay showed that Hughes appears to just fall while skating next to Mikkola.
Bratt scored at the 3:50 mark of the third to give the Devils a 5-2 lead, beating Bobrovsky between his right arm and body, then added an empty-netter late in the period to complete the hat trick.
Things don’t get any easier for the Panthers. Up next is a home and home with the NHL-best Winnipeg Jets, starting Saturday in Sunrise.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Bennett picked up an assist on Boqvist’s goal, giving him 16 points in 16 games.
Reinhart’s goal was his 13th of the season and eighth in Florida’s past eight games.
His points streak also extended to nine games.
Speaking of point streaks, Sasha Barkov is up to seven games after assisting on on Reinhart’s goal. He’s got 13 points during the run.
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