Panthers Penalty Woes Cost Them In OT, Fall To Detroit

Sunrise, FL – A critical holding penalty on the Florida Panthers with little time left in the third period aided their downfall in OT as they suffered their third straight loss by a score of 3-2, to Detroit.

The red-hot Panthers made the most out of mid-December and carried their momentum to the new year. However, they still looked to right their wrongs back at Sunrise against an equally solid Detroit Red Wings squad.

Ever since an impressive road win against Vegas on December 23rd, Florida has proven to be a powerhouse in the Atlantic, winning eight straight games. Still, they entered this matchup against Detroit the losers of two straight against New Jersey and Anaheim.

Looking to get back on the W column, the Red Wings stood in their way. Detroit entered this game with some momentum to spare, winning five of their last six including two straight against Los Angeles and Toronto.

As physical as teams can get, both Detroit and Florida share a bunch of similarities that made this an even contest. This game provided some physicality on both sides of the ice, and it wasn’t decided in regulation, even with an onslaught of penalties on both sides.

“I’m frustrated that we’re not far off our game… we’re generating enough to win hockey games,” said head coach Paul Maurice postgame. “We’re not giving them a lack of a lot. We have to be better in this league at this time of year because all these teams you face are scratching and clawing.”

The Lyon Returns To The Cage

Florida took a slight hit to their offense thanks in part to Aleksander Barkov being unavailable due to a lingering injury. However, Sergei Bobrovsky made his return to the starting lineup following the OT loss against the Ducks when Anthony Stolarz took over in that game.

A warm welcome back tonight to the 🦁👑! pic.twitter.com/tyxg6oHBjr

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) January 18, 2024

Another interesting storyline was the return of goalie Alex Lyon to the Amerant Bank Arena. The former Panther signed with Detroit in the offseason after only 15 games played with Florida in 2022. He still started a few games against Boston in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs regardless.

Physicality Is The Name Of The Game

The first period was nothing to write home about when it came to scoring. Both defenses started strong with a solid goalie matchup to boot. It was a fast-paced contest that wasn’t heavy on shots but Florida still edged out Detroit, 10 to 9.

In the second, both offenses found their groove. Four minutes in, Florida’s stellar power play defense showed out with a sudden breakaway as their interference penalty came to a close. Dmitry Kulikov committed the takeaway, and Sam Reinhart sank in a snapshot for a short-handed goal.

A lot of history happened in the process. That goal happened to be Reinhart’s 500th point in his NHL career. On top of that, he’s also the second player in team history to score a short-handed goal in two straight games.

He’s also now the second player in Cats history to score at least 20 special-team goals in a season, and we haven’t even reached the All-Star Game yet. Finally, this was Reinhert’s eighth straight game with a goal, which is the most in the history of the Panthers.

🚨 SHORT HANDED GOAL 🚨

Despite dealing with an interference penalty, Florida found a breakaway, and Sam Reinhardt lands a shot for the first score of the game!

FLA – 1
DET – 0

13:30 to go in the second period. #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/zyP9hDVv3r

— Jake Gibson (@JakeTheEmcee) January 18, 2024

What the Panthers failed to do in this game was to hold onto their lead. Only six minutes later, a pass off a faceoff turned out to be a tip-in to the back of the net, getting by Bob for Detroit’s first equalizer. We saw a similar situation play out against Anaheim when Florida had two different two-goal leads and gave up both in the overtime loss.

Florida was fast to respond as they got the lead back only 16 seconds later. After a faceoff win by Sam Bennett, a pair of wristers on Lyon by Gustav Forsling was a bit too much to handle. The second one got by him for the second goal of the period for the Cats, but that was sadly the last goal they would achieve in the game.

Outmanned And Outgunned In Overtime

The third period felt more like what we saw in the first period of action, with the defenses locking up their sides of the ice. That said, the Red Wings continued to play the aggressor thanks to their deficit.

Ultimately, Detroit found their second equalizer of the game only six minutes in off a Panthers giveaway into a wrister that Bob couldn’t catch up to, and the rest of the third period was spent with both teams looking for the game-winning goal.

But an unfortunate miscue by the Panthers in the closing minutes proved to be fatal. With 39 seconds to go, a hooking penalty on Aaron Ekblad put him in the penalty box. Florida didn’t give up a goal in that timeframe, but the penalty carried into overtime for a bit over a minute of play.

Considering the regular season overtime system in the NHL already turns it into a four-on-four game, now with a man down for Florida, meant that they only had three defenders along with Bob. While they managed one whole minute of solid defense, an eventual long shot skidded by the whole Cats defensive line and turned out to be the break that Detroit was looking for.

WINNER, WINNER! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/7ysStqwRT0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 18, 2024

Seeing Red At The Statistics

A frustrating reoccurrence for Florida this season has been losing when they lead with the shots on goal. Such was the case here as they managed 34 shots compared to Detroit’s 29. They also managed more faceoff wins and takeaways, but the Red Wings brought out the gloves with more hits and blocked shots.

Bobrovsky played fine with 26 total saves, but the Panthers were penalized six times in this contest, including in overtime when that usually tends to be a death sentence. Not having Barkov in the lineup made itself known when looking at the point totals for the offense, as no one managed at least two assists.

Just like that, Florida stands with a 27-13-4 record having lost three straight games. They still find themselves in second place in the Atlantic Division, with a seven-point lead over Detroit and still trailing behind Boston. The Cats will finish this homestand with a matchup against the 18-20-5 Minnesota Wild this Friday at 7 pm.

📸Credit: John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel