Florida Panthers lose four in a row, fall to the Rangers 5-4 in OT

The Florida Panthers suffered yet another blowout loss on Thursday night. Were they able to snap the three game skid against the New York Rangers?

After the Panthers were completely obliterated by the Columbus Blue Jackets, they found themselves facing a struggling New York Rangers’ team. Both teams entered Saturday night’s game with under .500 records and were looking to jump-start their seasons’. Henrik Lundqvist got the start for the Rangers and Roberto Luongo got the start for the Panthers.

Florida got off to a very steady start and it seemed as if they were going to take a careful style at the beginning of the game. Neither the Panthers nor the Rangers dominated the period as both teams played very similar throughout.

Both teams had decent chances to put one in the back of the net, but both Lundqvist and Luongo came up big to keep the game scoreless. Although the Panthers didn’t score, it was nice to see them play a very even first period.

The Panthers came out racing in the second period and it paid off. Colton Sceviour, just back from injury, tipped the puck into the net to give the Panthers the first lead of the game:

After the Panthers’ goal, the Rangers started to turn things around and were the one’s applying pressure. They continued to press in the offensive zone until Nick Holden put the puck in the back of the net to tie the game at one:

The Rangers continued to dominate the game after their goal, but after a couple of minutes, play evened out to a normal pace. Just around 6 minutes after the Holden goal, Colton Sceviour once again put the puck in the back of the net to give the Cats a 2-1 lead. It was his second of the game and his third of the season:

Exciting play continued for both sides as both teams exchanged power plays. Just a little under five minutes (after Sceviour’s goal), Kevin Shattenkirk snipes one into the net and ties the game at two:

Both teams began the third period very evenly as play slowed down just a little bit (compared to the second). Early into the period, Chris Kreider of the Rangers was called for a faceoff violation, giving the Panthers their first full power play of the night.

Unfortunately, the only thing the power play did for the Panthers was give the Rangers the lead. Just seconds after the Panthers PP expired, speedster Michael Grabner gave his side their first lead of the night:

The Panthers woke up after the Grabner goal and started to pick up their play. They would be rewarded for their efforts very shortly. Just a few minutes after the Grabner goal, Keith Yandle took a shot off a faceoff win and found the back of the net. The shot looked like it might have deflected off of a Rangers’ stick on its way in.

The tie game would only last so long as the Panthers were caught for a tripping penalty and sent the Rangers back to the power play. As expected, the Cats penalty killing unit could not fight off the penalty and the Rangers struck again to take the lead. Rick Nash picked up his third of the season with a deflection off a slap shot from the point:

While it would seem as if the Panthers would give up and drop this game in regulation, they didn’t. After relentlessly pressuring the goal, the Cats found the back of the net when Vincent Trocheck sped in and fired the puck top-shelf to beat Henrik Lundqvist.

The Panthers deserved this goal as they never gave up and did their best to get back in the game (later on). It was Trocheck’s sixth of the year and the Panthers found themselves going into overtime grabbing one point:

The 3 on 3 overtime only lasted a little bit over a minute as Kevin Shattenkirk potted his second goal of the game to give the Rangers the win. Vincent Trocheck was caught flat-footed at the Rangers blue line and the blue shirts turned it into a game winning 2 on 1 goal:

In all honesty, the Panthers deserved what they got: one point. They played well enough throughout the entire game to win, but mental lapses on special teams is what costed them the extra point. Again, the Cats allowed way too many goals. Five goals is just unacceptable! It’s now a total of 20 goals against throughout the last three games played. Realistically, the Panthers deserve to be 0-2-1 in their last three.

As the season moves along, the Panthers must tighten up defensively or they will continue to see the same results. They have more than enough offense, but their defense is what’s holding them back from being a good team. Florida has now dropped four straight games and currently stand at 4-7-2 on the season.

The Florida Panthers will look to snap their four game losing streak with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, November 7th @7:00pm.