The single biggest takeaway from Florida Panthers Game 2 loss

The Florida Panthers needed a bounce-back win in Game 2. Instead, they lost in a complete meltdown by five goals and find themselves down by two games. 

After falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1, the Florida Panthers could not afford to have dropped two straight. But instead of an improvement, they once again lost big, this time 7-2.

And the biggest takeaway in tonight’s game was that the team failed to show up and play an even remotely solid hockey game. If you thought the Panthers played poorly in Game 1, particularly in the third period, it was nothing compared to how bad they looked in Game 2, when they found themselves down 4-0 by the end of the second frame.

So what happened? Take just one look at the stat sheet, and you will see that this team once again played an undisciplined game, with a whopping 84 penalty minutes and 14 total penalties.

Lack of discipline again hurts the Florida Panthers

Matthew Tkachuk, sooner than later, has got to keep his emotions in check. Of his team’s 84 penalty minutes, he recorded 22 of them. He also drew two misconducts, and it slashed his total time on ice to just 15:57.

But the lack of discipline didn’t just lie in player emotions. The Panthers allowed 22 takeaways and their special teams suffered once again, with the PK unit allowing two power play goals, giving them a success rate of just 63.6% (7 for 11) over the past two games.

Their power play went 0 for 4, and it is now 0 for 7 in Games 1 and 2 combined. To their credit, the Panthers logged 12 power play shots on goal, but at the end of the night, they didn’t convert.

Overall, if the Florida Panthers plan on making this Stanley Cup Final an interesting series, they need to play a different game when they hit their home ice. It’s time to stop committing careless penalties, especially if you’re Tkachuk, and you end up hurting your team.

The time’s come to play a simpler, smarter brand of hockey. But the clock is ticking for the Panthers, and they absolutely cannot afford to fall into a 3-0 hole.

(Statistics provided by ESPN.com)