It was the tale of two games for the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.

Initially, the Cats stumbled out of the gate against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, falling behind early and failing to get back over the hump.

Despite several valiant comeback attempts, Florida lost for the fifth time in six outings, dropping a 5-3 affair to the Penguins at Amerant Bank Arena.

Still, there were several areas of positivity to point to that the Panthers will look to build off as they continue their homestand against some formidable opponents in the coming days.

Let’s get to Thursday’s takeaways:

SLOW START, STRONGER FINISH

A power play goal by the great Sidney Crosby paced the Penguins during the first period as Florida struggled to create much speed out of their own end, or possession time in the Pens’ zone.

Shots after the opening frame were 7-6 Pittsburgh, and shot attempts were even at 18 apiece.

After that, the ice heavily tilted in favor of Florida.

During the final 40 minutes, the Panthers dominated shots (31-9) and shot attempts (64-25), but unfortunately for the Csts, it was Pittsburgh who kept the advantage where it counted, on the scoreboard.

“Well, in the first half the game we looked like we've looked for a while,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Offensively, we were just slow. And then in the back half of the game, we got to the right pace, and there was a little bit of freedom. We've just been really tight with the puck and we turned pucks over that we normally don't, or don't expect that we should. So we got to a level of intensity, but with the puck, and I thought we looked the way we were supposed to look”

POWER PLAY BREAKS THROUGH

After breaking out of an extended dry spell with a power play goal on Tuesday in Boston, Florida’s man advantage looked much crisper against the Pens.

A pair of power play goals, one by Brad Marchand and one by Sam Reinhart, had the unit looking like a well-oiled machine again.

“I thought we had a real tough night (on the power play) the other night (in Buffalo) and we ended up with 15 (power play) shots on goal,” Maurice said. “And if you could put that many shots up on your power play, there's something right; it was going to go for you. In Boston, (the power play) scored a huge goal to get us going, and I thought if you get two in a game (like we did tonight), that should be enough (to win), but that part looks like it's moving in the right direction, confidence-wise. That's a really big, important part of it. And then the other part of our game, we've got to drive a little harder after it."

SOMETHING TO BUILD OFF

Overall, despite the lackluster start to the game, Florida started looking more like their usual selves than they have in a couple weeks.

Now they can go back, look at the film and build off the positives. 

With an extremely challenging homestand ahead, the Cats can use all the forward-moving momentum they can muster.

“You’ve got something to point to, and something that looks right to you that we haven't had,” Maurice said. “So we can show it, and work off it and work off that offensive template. We don't spend a lot of time talking about offense over time here; we’re a defense-first team. We felt we've been slow offensively, and I didn't feel we were tonight.”

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Photo caption: Oct 23, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) moves the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins center Filip Hallander (11) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)