The Florida Panthers hosted the New York Rangers in the final regular season home game for the Cats.
Florida jumped out to an early lead and was up by two goals more than midway through the game, but they allowed the Rangers to score four straight and take home the two points by a 5-3 final score.
It may have been a strong start for the Cats, but once things started going south, it felt like the game quickly spiraled out of control.
With the playoffs on the horizon and the priority for the Panthers being health, the frustration level with a blown lead doesn’t seem to be as high.
Here are Monday’s takeaways:
ALL DOWNHILL AFTER 3-1
While the game was probably a little more back and forth than they liked, the Panthers were solidly in control for much of its first half.
Then suddenly Florida started mishandling pucks and overskating plays while the Rangers were pumping in goals left and right.
When the time came for the Panthers to make their final push, it did not feel like there was a whole heck of a lot left in the tank.
“I think we were in good shape at 3-1 and make a couple of mistakes,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “There wasn't a whole lot of offense I don't think that we had either way, and then the shorthanded goal was kind of a dagger. There was not much of an offensive push at the end, and didn't expect there to be.”
KULIKOV RETURNS
Florida got an important piece back in their lineup Monday as defenseman Dmitry Kulikov suited up for the first time in 12 games.
Kulikov had not played since suffering an upper-body injury against the New York Islanders back on March 16.
He skated 19:36 against the Rangers, firing off two shots on five attempts while adding a hit, a blocked shot and three takeaways. He also played in all situations, getting a power play shift in addition to his usual shorthanded assignment.
Afterward, Maurice just seemed to be happy he made it through the game.
“You know what? It's a month, and with new partner. All we're looking for is to get him through the game, get him back into some contact, and he did that,” Maurice said. “So we got what we needed from him.”
SLOPPY NIGHT
Call it fatigue, call it the end of the regular season…call it whatever you want.
Monday’s game between the Panthers and Rangers, despite featuring quite a bit of star power on the ice, wasn’t the cleanest of games, and it wasn’t just Florida that struggled.
There were turnovers, mistakes, bobbles of the puck, overskates, bad penalties, just a lot of less-than-desirable hockey.
Fortunately, there’s another game on Tuesday and then the focus shifts to the playoffs, so there won’t be much thought paid to this one much longer.
“I don't think either team handled the puck particularly well tonight,” said Maurice. “We won't be looking for a lot of insight into our game based on that game tonight.”
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