Florida Panthers Play to the Level of the Anaheim Ducks

Gunning for their fifth straight victory, the Florida Panthers got caught playing down to the level of their inferior opponent.

Everything looked great for the Florida Panthers until they started this game. They were coming in with a boatload of confidence, ready to sweep the California road trip.

But of course, the opposite occurred, and the Panthers couldn’t seem to figure out their opponent very well.

It wasn’t even two minutes into the hockey game until Florida was shorthanded. Precisely a minute and a half in, Devin Shore put the Ducks on the board first.

The Cats suddenly woke up and upped their tempo offensively, but Ducks netminder John Gibson shut the door on every single chance that Florida created.

The Panthers continued their push into the second period and were rewarded for their efforts early on. How early? Eleven seconds in.

Aleksander Barkov spotted a streaking Jonathan Huberdeau and immediately fed him the puck. Huberdeau drove to Gibson’s cage, driving a Ducks defenseman in his direction.

As soon as Huberdeau got close enough to Gibson’s crease, he slid a pass to Evgeni Dadonov, who did the easy work by putting the puck into the empty cage.

With a helper on the goal, forward Jonathan Huberdeau set a franchise record for most assists in a single season (54).

The Panthers continued pressing and even regained complete control of the game after Dadonov’s tying goal. But unfortunately, it wasn’t Florida who would score next.

Punished for a sloppy mistake, Adam Henrique came charging down the ice after Getzlaf’s penalty expired and roofed a shot past Sam Montembeault to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

Yet again, the Panthers were heading back to the dressing room down a goal in the process. They ultimately had no one else but to blame but themselves for executing and defending poorly.

Luckily enough, the Cats answered back, this time, through defenseman Aaron Ekblad. Jonathan Huberdeau creatively entered his way into the zone, setting up Ekblad for the easy tip.

But again, the Panthers couldn’t stop the Ducks from taking the lead, defending ever-so poorly in the final few minutes of regulation.

Mike Matheson and Aaron Ekblad were both caught out of position behind the net, leaving Jakob Silfverberg all alone in front of their goal. Needless to say, he backhanded a shot past Montembeault, leading the Ducks to a 3-2 victory.

Ultimately, the Panthers got what they deserved: a regulation loss. While they outshot the Ducks rather significantly, it really doesn’t say much in terms of their shot location. Outside of the first line, no other line was able to create anything of significance.

Defensively speaking, the entire defense core was out for lunch. Opposing forwards were left all alone in the slot with time and space to set up and shoot. Without Montembeault’s solid play, the game could’ve been out of reach as early as the first period.

In hindsight, the Panthers played down to the level of their competition, which is deeply problematic in games like these where two points are regarded as a must.