SUNRISE, Fla. — Three times, the Florida Panthers rallied. Three times, the Florida Panthers found themselves within a goal of tying the New York Rangers.
But just has been the case so many times throughout this lackluster season, the Florida Panthers couldn’t complete the comeback.
Final score Sunday at FLA Live Arena: Rangers 5, Panthers 3.
“We didn’t move the puck well at all tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We had open people. We continually put it into their feet. It’s like we’ve got a capacity to work X amount and when we hit that capacity, the rest of the game got away from us.”
And so the Panthers’ slide continues as the calendar flips to 2023. They are 16-18-4 on the season, 11 points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division and still eight points out of a wild-card spot with the season quickly approaching the halfway mark.
The 18 regulation losses already this season match the total they had all last season when they won the Presidents’ Trophy with a 58-18-6 record.
And the loss on Sunday wasn’t for lack of opportunity. Florida outshot New York 35-28 and had a 33-20 edge in scoring chances.
It was, however, for lack of ability to level the game after falling behind early.
The Rangers (20-12-6), who now hold the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, had a 2-0 lead 10:30 into the second period on goals from Mika Zibanejad. After that...
— Nick Cousins broke up the shutout with a snap shot from the right circle to make it 2-1 with 6:03 left in the second period only for New York to go up 3-1 less than two minutes later on a Chris Kreider shot from the slot.
— Florida cut the deficit to one again with 57.1 seconds left in the second period on a Sam Bennett power-play goal — his first goal since Dec. 1 before the Rangers went back up by multiple goals once again on a Vincent Trocheck breakaway on the power play 1:38 into the third period.
— And then the Panthers got within one for a third and final time 75 seconds later on an Eric Staal goal, his fourth of the season.
That’s as close as Florida would get.
The Rangers went back up by two with 9:56 left in regulation on an Artemi Panarin wrist shot from the left circle to cap scoring.
“We kept trying to push back,” Bennett said, “and then they were able to get that extra one to keep us two behind. We had a good push, but it wasn’t enough.”
Penalties
The Panthers committed four more penalties on Sunday and now lead the league with 189 penalties taken.
Two of those penalties directly led to Rangers goals.
Bennett was called for goaltender interference midway into the first period to wipe out the Panthers’ first power-play opportunity and set up 56 seconds of 4-on-4 play. Zibanejad scored his first goal shortly after the Rangers went on their ensuing power play.
And then Carter Verhaeghe was called for a high stick early in the third period that put New York on the power play for Trocheck’s goal that made it 4-2.
Staal also committed two penalties — one for hooking early in the first and one for tripping early in the second.
“I can’t explain three of the penalties that we took,” Maurice said. “You have to stay out of the box to give yourself a chance. You can lose momentum in a game when you’re building it at five-on-five.”
Up next
The Panthers host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before embarking on a four-game road trip that features games against the Detroit Red Wings (Friday, 7 p.m.), Dallas Stars (Sunday, 3:30 p.m.), Colorado Avalanche (Jan. 10, 9:30 p.m.) and Vegas Golden Knights (Jan. 12, 10 p.m.).
