Florida has converted on just one of its past 15 power plays

The Florida Panthers will head into Thanksgiving with a bad taste in their mouths following Wednesday night’s loss to the Boston Bruins.

What started out as strong effort by Florida against the best team in the NHL slowly but surely turned into a frustrating night for the Panthers inside their home barn.

There was no shortage of opportunities for the Cats, particularly in the early stages of the game.

If not for a spectacular effort in net by Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark, Florida could have run away with this game in the first period.

Before getting to the goalies, let’s start off with a positive Panthers takeaway. It is a holiday, after all.

Lundell rewarded with goal

Florida third year center Anthon Lundell has been playing his best hockey of the season of late.

Currently filling in for injured top line center Sasha Barkov, Lundell has seen his confidence growing over the past couple weeks, and the coaching staff has noticed.

Lundell scored his second goal of the season and is up to seven points in 11 November games, but it was the defensive play of his line with Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Bennett that really stood out, as they spent most of the night matched up against Boston’s top unit of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.

“He's been playing great,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said after Wednesday’s game. “They did a pretty good job on (Boston’s top) line. It's an elite line in the NHL, and they didn't have a lot of shots attempts, so I'm fine with them. The points are important for the player, for sure, and for the team, we want to score goals, but that secondary (scoring) in terms of what he does on a nightly basis, I'm really happy with where Anton is.

Ullmark outplays Bobrovsky

Both goaltenders on Wednesday – Sergei Bobrovsky for Florida and Ullmark for Boston – looked locked in during the early stages of the game and each came up with several key saves.

As the game progressed, the difference became Ullmark continuing to make elite saves at difficult moments while Bobrovsky allowed a couple to squeak by.

Ullmark finished the game making 27 saves, including stopping seven of the eight high danger shots he faced. Bobrovsky, meanwhile, stopped 22 shots and eight of eleven high danger shots.

In terms of expected goals against, Ullmark’s was 2.69 while Bobrovsky’s was 2.53.

Bottom line, both goaltenders played quite well, but one was a bit more clutch than the other.

“He’s a big man, and he’s quick,” Maurice said of Ullmark. “We've spent a little more time around net front and there's some things that I think we did well in the past playing against him that we weren't great at tonight, and then he made a bunch of saves, so that’ll happen to you.”

Power play struggles continue

Florida went 0-for-2 on the power play against the Bruins on Wednesday.

Over their past four games, the Panthers are just 1-for-15 while on the man advantage, generating 25 shots on goal.

It’s certainly frustrating, but Maurice has shown patience due to there being a fair amount of turnover recently.

With Brandon Montour, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett all joining the lineup over the past couple weeks, there has been some adjusting on both the top and second power play units.

Throw into the mix that Barkov has been out the past couple games and it only further adds to the lack of comfort and continuity.

Considering the amount of talent Florida can put on the ice during any given power play, it makes sense to think that the goals will come.

Eventually.

“Not yet. They're not there yet,” Maurice said. “It's not in sync yet.”

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Panthers frustrated by Ullmark, Bruins in 3-1 loss on home ice

Sasha Barkov resumes skating, 'possibility' he plays Friday against Winnipeg

Panthers host Bruins in matchup of top Eastern Conference teams

Report: Patrick Kane close to decision, Panthers may be top choice

Three takeaways: Defensive elements, big crowd fuel 5-3 win over Edmonton