When it was over, when the magic didn’t appear Saturday, when the Florida Panthers lost as many games at home in a bad week as they had all this season, this is how their coach, Andrew Brunette, framed it all.
“If we play like we did today, we’ll be fine,’’ Brunette said.
They’ll be fine. The Panthers third straight loss at home to Edmonton, 4-3, was a matter of missed chances, a better goalie on the other side, some risky ventures turned into odd-man rushes and the kind of afternoon that brings some perspective to their scorching season.
Bad endings can happen.
Bad weeks, too.
It’s not an insult. It’s merely a fact of sports — and one worth observing, since the Panthers haven’t had this kind of mortal stretch where they’re on the wrong side of high-scoring games. Six, six and now four were the number of goals middling teams from Nashville, Columbus and now Edmonton hung on the Panthers at home.
It’s not a bear-market slump, not when you out-shoot Edmonton, 47-22. It’s just a drag at this point, probably a little decline that actually confirms what a great season they’ve had to this point. They’d lost three home games in nearly five months.
Now they’ve lost three in a row.
Brunette talked of the importance of, “the focus of 60 minutes — not 58 or 59, not 40 like the other night. Every little puck counts. Every little play counts. It’s good learning. They haven’t learned all week.
“Games like this, we might’ve had six or seven [goals] earlier in the year. We kind of got spoiled. Games like this when you don’t get the six or seven, you have to make sure they don’t get four.”
There’s the lesson inside the good perspective. With under a minute left in the second period, the Panthers Mason Marchment had the kind of good opportunity to score the Panthers seemed to have all day. Edmonton’s goalie Mikko Koskinen stopped him. He was good like that all Saturday.
“Most of the year that goes in,’’ Brunette said.
Instead, Edmonton rushed down the ice and Derek Ryan scored his third goal of the day to make it 4-2. Ryan had three goals all season entering Saturday.
Aleksander Barkov, who had two goals, talked of the need to get more players in the net, “hungrier and going for rebounds,’’ he said. “It was just one-and-done a lot.”
Rookie Anton Lundell, who scored his 12th goal, thought the team defense could have been better.
“We gave up some chances,’’ he said.
Here was an added problem: The Panthers whipped up on Edmonton, 6-0, in Canada when they last met. That was some of the lead-in to a coaching change.
It’s just like the last time Columbus played in Sunrise the home fans were chanting, “We Want 10!” As in goals. They got nine. The Panthers also scored eight recently in Columbus. Think Columbus was ready for the game this week?
“I think teams are prepared for us,’’ Brunette said.
They’re still atop the division, still one of the top teams in the East. They also play the kind of game of speed and skill you don’t have to be overly nuanced on the game to enjoy. This small decline doesn’t change any of that. It doesn’t change anything, really.
“We were kind of globe-trotting there for a while where everything was going our way,’’ he said. “Right now, we’re still getting those opportunities, which is, for me, all that matters. They’ll go in when you get the opportunities.”
The Panthers came out of a two-week break with three nice wins on the road followed by this week at home.
“I think our group felt on home ice things were going to be easy,’’ Brunette said.
Maybe that’s a lesson that needs learning. Maybe this week was just a reminder how much winning they’ve done this season. Either way, they get a break until Thursday to rest a bit and, “focus a bit on some little details,’’ Brunette said.
The trade deadline is ahead. They’ll be in the market for a quality defenseman. But not just because of this week where some perspective came amid some pain. The perspective: If you keep outshooting teams 47-22, you’ll be fine.
