As the Florida Panthers lost 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night to Carolina, the team’s penalty kill wilted again after five games of not allowing a power-play goal.
The Hurricanes scored two goals on five power-play opportunities before Noah Hanifin netted the game-winner with just two seconds remaining in overtime. The Panthers entered the game having killed all nine of their previous penalties.
“I thought we did a lot of good things on the PK,” Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. “Obviously, not killing them hurts. But teams, when they have an extra guy, they’re going to get opportunities. We just weren’t able to kill them as a team.”
Saturday’s effort came one game after not taking a single penalty against the San Jose Sharks on Friday night. The Panthers were whistled for 10 penalties on Saturday night, leading to five power plays and Carolina’s only two goals before overtime.
Aleksander Barkov was called for two penalties in the first period alone, one for high-sticking, the other for hooking. Jonathan Huberdeau was called for hooking and roughing. Jared McCann and Derek MacKenzie each collected major penalties for fighting. Alex Petrovic, Mike Matheson and Micheal Haley each registered roughing penalties. Aaron Ekblad’s hooking penalty in the third led to a Carolina goal.
“When the game got physical, I thought we answered the bell,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “We stuck up for each other. We got our noses in there.”
At 74.4 percent, the Panthers’ penalty kill unit now ranks as the second-worst in the NHL, ahead of only Edmonton. They have allowed at least two power-play goals in six of their 23 games this season. In those games, Florida is 0-5-1.
Florida’s own power play went 0 for2 and has just two goals in its past 23 opportunities. It is the third-worst unit in the league at 15.1 percent.
The Panthers’ power play had a different look to it against the Hurricanes, with Nick Bjugstad slotting into the top unit with Barkov, Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck and Yandle.
Evgenii Dadonov was playing with the top unit prior to a shoulder injury that will sideline him for 3 to 5 more weeks. Then Henrik Haapala saw time on that unit, but was a scratch on Saturday night. So Bjugstad stepped in, at least in the start.
In starting the third period, Boughner and the Panthers scrapped their four forward, one defenseman look in favor of a more traditional approach with three forwards and two defensemen. Aaron Ekblad replaced Bjugstad for Florida’s final power play of the game.
Missing the net
Boughner has lamented the Panthers’ inability to hit the net on shot attempts and Saturday set a new standard for missed shots. Florida missed the net on a season-high 24 shot attempts against the Hurricanes.
Florida’s previous high was 18 missed shots on Nov. 19 at Anaheim. Even when the Panthers hit the net, they could barely beat Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward. The Panthers ended the game with 39 shots on goal, but only scored twice.
The Panthers’ shooting percentage now sits at 8.1 percent, nearly half the league average shooting percentage of 15.7 percent. Across Florida’s past nine games, the Panthers have scored 17 goals on 329 shots on goal (5.2 percent). …
The Panthers were two seconds away from pushing the game to a shootout, where they’ve won two of their three tries this season. But Hanifin ended the game by burying a rebound past James Reimer.
“Everybody knows our team is a pretty good shootout team and I’d like to see it get to a shootout,” Boughner said.
Barkov is one of the best shootout artists in the NHL, scoring on 14 of his 19 attempts in the past three seasons.
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