Despite the mounting losses and growing injury concerns, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice's message: "Everybody relax"

The Florida Panthers are running out of time to figure out how to get back on the track that once saw them as the betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

Those days seem like a long, long time ago.

Florida’s 5-3 loss on Tuesday night in Montreal was their eighth in 10 games, far and away the Panthers worst stretch of the season.

Now they’ve got six games remaining on the schedule to snap back into form, otherwise this once promising season could be over much sooner than many of us would’ve thought just a few short weeks ago.

Here are Tuesday’s takeaways:

Couldn’t build on strong start

Despite getting beat down in Toronto on Monday night by the Maple Leafs, Florida was hoping to build off a strong third period in which they outscored the Leafs 3-1 with a good start in Montreal.

That’s exactly what happened as the Cats scored the first goal against the Canadiens, and then were able to bounce back and take another lead when they coughed up the 1-0 edge after less than a minute.

The uptick in energy didn’t last, though.

Montreal scored four straight goals between the second and third periods, crushing the Panthers will at every turn.

Speaking after the game, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice gave credit to his team for their start and seemed to indicate that one of the several bad defensive decisions lingered a bit more than usual.

“They were a little quicker than we were as the game went on,” said Maurice. “I liked our first (period), I liked the way we played and the way we moved with the puck. When we served up that second goal, it hurts us right now a little bit more.”

Expected issues

Monday night Florida lost Carter Verhaeghe to an injury. He’s now considered week-to-week, though there is hope that he’ll be ready for the playoffs.

Tuesday was Aaron Ekblad going down, leaving the game after the first period and never reemerging from the locker room. The only thing Maurice said about the injury after the game was that the team would know more on Wednesday.

Several players have been dealing with injuries and ailments of varying degrees over the past few weeks and months, not to mention an illness that impacted several players in the room.

In terms of these kind of issues, while they were expected, the hope is that Florida gets everything out of the way before the playoffs arrive.

“We're going to lose guys, I told you that two weeks ago,” Maurice said. “We're going to loose bodies, we're going to get guys sick, we're going to get guys injured. It's just a function of the schedule. So it's going to be a grinder and it's going to get worse because we get to finish off this road trip with a nice afternoon game (which will be) 10 (games) in 17 (days), and that's what happens to hockey teams. We’ve got a good chunk of adversity right now, and part of it will be the panic that will set in outside the room.”

Coach not worried?

Whether he’s just putting on a good show or he really feels this way, Maurice does not seem to be overly troubled by the way Florida has been playing.

Perhaps having a clear understanding of what the issues are and knowing what needs to be done in order to get back into shape are the reasons why he feels any sense of confidence right now.

“I’m not concerned,” Maurice said. “We understand where we’re at, and why. I know why we’re playing the way we’re playing, so I’m not (concerned). I’m aware of it, though.”

Maurice went on to explain the frustration that he and the team is feeling.

“You’re competitive men and you want to win, and you’re not, so you’re growly a little bit. The team’s a little bit snarly. We didn’t have enough in the tank to even show that snarl tonight, but they’re fine. They’re going to be just fine. Everybody relax.”

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