The Florida Panthers held three separate leads Tuesday, including a two-goal lead in the second period and a one-goal lead with less than 10 minutes remaining. They fired 48 shots at David Rittich and even successfully challenged a Nashville Predators goal in the third.
None of it was enough for the Panthers. For the first time all season, Florida blew a third-period in Sunrise and fell to the Predators, 6-4.
Forward Sam Bennett committed a costly cross-checking penalty behind the play with 5:48 left and the Predators scored 17 seconds into the power play, beating goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for the fifth time on 32 shots to take a 5-4 lead. Florida couldn’t beat Rittich for the final 5:31 and lost at home for only the fourth time all year.
All three of the Panthers’ previous losses in South Florida came when they trailed at the end of the second period. It was a truly unprecedented loss for these Panthers, who built the best record in the Eastern Conference in the first half by dominating at home, but now trail the Carolina Hurricanes in points percentage.
Florida (35-11-5) even made a point to acknowledge its first-half excellence before the game. It was their first home game since the 2022 NHL All-Star Game and the Panthers began it with a new hype video, soundtracked by Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” with quotes flashing across the screen of players lauding the home crowd and explaining why they love being in Florida. In the first half of the season, no one played more home games or had a better home record — winning 23 of 26 — than the Panthers and the crowd inside FLA Live Arena was antsy to see first-place Florida get back on the ice in Broward County after winning three in a row on the road to start the second half.
Those fans had goals to celebrate early and often, only Nashville (29-18-4) matched the Panthers the whole way and pulled out an unlikely win in the waning minutes.
With 13:15 left in the first, forward Sam Reinhart scored on a power play for a 1-0 lead, but Predators left wing Filip Forsberg answered 5:21 later to knot the score at 1-1. In the second period, defensemen Radko Gudas and Aaron Ekblad scored less than eight minutes apart to push Florida’s lead to 3-1, but Nashville erased the lead in 1:39 on goals by star defenseman Roman Josi and left wing Yakov Trenin.
The Panthers had an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal in the opening eight minutes, but only a 1-0 lead to show for it and it was quickly gone. They had a 34-26 advantage in shots at the second intermission, but the score was still even at 3-3 and they needed another one of their signature third-period pushes on home ice to try to keep their stranglehold on first place in the East.
At 5-3, no one has a better home record when trailing at the end of the second period than Florida. The Panthers had been 2-0 when tied at the end of the second, too, and 16-0 when leading. Those marks of perfection are gone.
The final period was wild, though, and Florida never buried Nashville. Bennett scored his first goal since January with 11:49 remaining to put the Panthers ahead 4-3 and the Predators again responded by putting a puck in the back of the net 14 seconds later, only to have interim coach Andrew Brunette successfully challenge the play for goaltender interference to wipe away the goal.
The 4-3 lead still only lasted 2:30, though, before Predators winger Tanner Jeannot got a shorthanded breakaway and beat Bobrovsky to tie the game 4-4 with 9:19 remaining.
With 5:31 left, Nashville forward Mikael Granlund beat Bobrovsky again and the Predators handed the Panthers a rare loss in Florida.
Mamin returns to top line
Maxim Mamin came off injured reserve Tuesday and immediately slotted back into the top line at right wing, next to fellow forwards Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov. The winger missed seven straight games with an unspecified injury.
With Mamin back in the lineup, Noel Acciari got the night off after playing in his first two games of the year Friday and Saturday. The forward missed the first 48 games of the regular season after tearing a pectoral muscle in the preseason.
To make room for Mamin on the active roster, the Panthers loaned Owen Tippett to AHL Charlotte. The right wing has played in 42 of 51 games for Florida this season after playing in 45 of 52 last year.
