The Florida Panthers came out of the 4 Nations break hoping to hit the ground running.

Instead, they fell short against the visiting Seattle Kraken, falling 2-1 on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

Despite the Panthers being given an early power play just 41 seconds into the game, it would be the Kraken who opened the scoring on the man advantage a few minutes later.

After not one but two failed zone clear attempts by the Panthers, one by Gus Forsling and another by Jesper Boqvist, Kappo Kakko found himself with the puck and plenty of space in the left circle, cutting to the net and sliding the puck under Sergei Bobrovsky to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

That’s how the score would remain for about half the game as Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord continued to come up with big stops, particularly late in the first period.

Then, just past the game’s midway point, Anton Lundell came down the right side of the ice with lots of room. He cut to the net and drew in a defender before dishing the puck to the front of the net, where Eetu Luostarinen deflected the pass into the top of the net.

Florida thought they took the lead late in the second off a nice slot shot off the stick of Mackie Samoskevich, but the goal was wiped off after Seattle challenged the play for goalie interference.

Referee TJ Luxmore said Evan Rodrigues came into the goal crease on his own, through replay appeared to show him getting pushed in by Josh Mahura.

Alas, we played on, and went into the third period tied at one.

A quick shot by former Florida forward Jared McCann gave Seattle their second lead of the night at the 7:03 mark of the third, putting the Panthers squarely back on their heels.

The Cats pulled Sergei Bobrovsky with just over three minutes left for an extra attacker but couldn’t sustain much in terms of offensive pressure and ultimately came up short.

On to Nashville.

QUICK THOUGHTS

With an assist on Luostarinen’s goal, Niko Mikkola reached a new career high with 18 points so far this season. He set the mark last season, when he logged three goals and 14 assists.

Through 53 games, Mikkola has four goals and 14 assists. The 14 assists also match a career high.

Luostarinen now has four points over his past eight games.

Lundell, meanwhile, has racked up nine points over his past 13 outings.

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