Florida Panthers Couldn’t Get Anything Going Against the Dallas Stars

For the second consecutive time, the Florida Panthers have dropped a game in which they struggled to get anything going.

Another game, another Florida Panthers loss. It’s really become a reoccurring theme for this team and it doesn’t look as if it’s going to stop.

The Panthers seem to start games on the right foot, but can’t seem to bury their chances early on. A lot of scoring opportunities were wasted in much of the opening frame.

Better yet, the same defensive breakdowns occurred, and surely you can guess that the Dallas Stars were going to pounce on them. After all, they’re currently sitting in a wild-card spot as we speak, meaning that every game they approach is a must-win scenario. Points cannot be dropped.

Here on the first, the Stars completely shredded through the Panthers’ back line, making it look as easy as baking a pie.

Once the puck enters the neutral zone, Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz play a little give-and-go, opening up Seguin’s path on goal.

Hintz beautifully finds Seguin, and Seguin is left all alone in front of the net redirecting the game’s opening goal.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Jamie McGinn gets beat so easily at center ice. However, what’s even worse is Ekblad losing his guy (Seguin) in transition, which was the primary reason for the goal.

This next play just perfectly sums up the Panthers season. The Stars outwork them down low on the cycle and the Panthers get caught puck-watching while out of position.

Everyone (and I mean everyone) was running around their own zone like headless chickens on this play. While everyone is chasing the puck, they ultimately forget to stay on their assigned man, leaving Esa Lindell open right in front of Roberto Luongo.

Again, this issue lies at the hand of hockey 101. There’s nothing spectacular at the end of this play, but the Panthers’ woeful defending make the Stars look like Stanley Cup contenders on this play.

Tyler Seguin wound up recording his second of the night off an empty-net goal, eventually sealing the game for the Dallas Stars in 3-0 fashion. This game marked the Panthers’ first of the season in which they were shutout.

Essentially, the game came down to two things:

1). Poor execution. The Panthers created some decent chances in and around the slot but weren’t clinical enough when the chances were presented.

2). Sloppy defending. The Panthers were displaying the same defensive efforts and in result of that, the same outcomes that have appeared all season were occurring.

Ultimately, this was a winnable game, but the Panthers fell deep into the Stars’ trap. At this point, playoffs are a pipedream at best, as there’s just no way the Panthers can leapfrog over the teams that are above them in this amount of time.

As we’ve said for the past 15+ years, “maybe next season will be our year!”

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