Panthers playing well but falter on crucial mistakes as Injuries mount and crucial points slip through their fingertips.
The frustrating losses are starting to pile up for the Florida Panthers.
Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets was Florida’s third in a row, but it was also a game where the Panthers out-shot, out-possessed and out-chanced the visiting Winnipeg Jets, only to come up empty in the points department at a time where any opportunity to make up ground in the standings cannot be missed.
It will be hard to go back and look at the tape considering this was a game where Florida failed to earn a result, but there will be a good amount of footage that Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice and his staff will be able to clip and show the team was the right way to play.
Unfortunately, the team’s few, but glaring mistakes, cost them greatly on this day.
Let’s get to Saturday’s takeaways:
CAN’T AFFORD TO MAKE MISTAKES
There is one glaring element that jumps out when looking at Florida’s three-game losing streak.
Have they been outplayed? No. Looked outmatched? No.
Despite, once again, playing without several key forwards, the Panthers have been able to keep each game close and fight for two points only to come up short, dropping each by a single goal.
That element was extra frustrating for the Cats on Saturday considering how solid of a third period they ultimately played, aside from a couple tough errors that proved to be the difference.
“We gave up five shots,” Maurice said of Florida’s third period. “I don't expect Sergei (Bobrovsky) to have that second one, we just got caught flat footed on a line change that was as much my fault as anybody else's. When you play in these tight, tight games, it's going to be one shot (that decides the outcome).”
INJURIES NOT AN EXCUSE
At this point of the season, Maurice and his staff have everything they can to prepare Florida’s players to play and set them up to succeed.
Ultimately, the Cats have done well considering the circumstances, but in a year where much of the conference seems to be up, it’s been difficult for Florida to maintain a consistent pace with much of their opponents in the standings.
A combination of either not coming up with enough offense or not making a big save at a crucial time, or sometimes both, has cost Florida crucial points in a season where every single one could prove to make a massive difference one the dust settles in a few months.
As Panthers fans are learning, that will happen when a handful of crucial pieces of the lineup miss a significant amount of the season.
Even with everything that has happened, Maurice refuses to make any excuses.
“It doesn't matter,” Maurice said of Florida’s injury issues. “It's not like anybody surprises us when we come to the rink with the guys out, we’ve known it since September. We gave up 21 (shots to Winnipeg). They're just all very, very tight games.”
LONG WAY TO GO
As disheartening as Saturday’s loss may feel, there is still a much bigger picture that the Panthers will be focusing on.
There are 28 games remaining in the regular season.
While that may not seem like a lot, Florida’s players know how much value they can dissect from that many opportunities for points.
Starting Monday, Florida will close out the pre-Olympic schedule with three games in four nights; two in Sunrise and all the within the state of Florida.
Closing out with some semblance of success will be a focus, and after the break, with the team seemingly as healthy as they’ll have been all season, they’ll need to hit the ground running.
For now, the team will continue to dig deep, give maximum effort and fight as hard as they can, but it seems like it can only be a matter of time before some sentiment of exasperation begins to set in.
“We're not rubbing backs right now,” Maurice said. “I’ve got to get these guys some rest, somehow. They’ve got to get away from me. We came out hard, we played hard (Saturday). I’ve said it enough nights, we played our asses off. It's tight right now with some of our challenges, and we just got to keep the faith. And maybe that's the test of where we're at, and that's the thing to win this year, is that you keep your belief, and you keep your fight, even when it's going against you.”
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Photo caption: Jan 31, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues (17) and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Elias Salomonsson (57) battle for the puck during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)