The Panthers continue to struggle this season as they find themselves once again without yet another piece of their top six. This time, it was Carter Verhaeghe who missed the game, but not for injury or illness-related reasons. He and his wife were expecting on Tuesday, so he missed the match against the Leafs. At this point in the season, the injuries seem to be too much of a hill to climb for the Cats, and Toronto walked away with a 1-4 win. On a positive note, the Panthers’ penalty kill had an excellent night, and after a shaky start to the match, Bobrovsky looked better the rest of the night. Not that this season is lost, but Florida fans are in for a long regular season right now, and the three-peat is seeming like a distant dream. 

Down Another One:

In a season riddled with injuries, it was somewhat of a relief to learn that Verhaeghe wasn’t missing the game because of an injury. The Cats recalled Jack Studnicka from Charlotte yesterday, to the confusion of fans who saw the post online. Game night gave an explanation for the move, and Jack slotted in on the fourth line. No Verhaeghe led to a top line of Marchand-Lundell-Reinhart, Greer-Bennett-Samoskevich 2nd line, on the 3rd line was Gregor-Rodrigues-Boqvist, and a fourth line of Kunin-Studnicka-Devine. The guys brought in are doing their best in a not-ideal situation, but realistically, this isn’t a proper NHL lineup. None of these lines is anything close to what Florida ran during the playoffs. Not just in terms of personnel overall, but the mix of players on a line. HC Paul Maurice said to the media following another loss, “There’s a good time to whip your team, and then there’s a good time to rally them, and we’re in rally mode.” Reinhart said, “There’s some frustration, for sure. A lot of things have gone right for us over the last few years…We’ve been in this position before. It’s going to be the guys in the room and the guys that are healthy to get us out of it. The compete, the work, was there.”

Strong PK Performance:

A bright spot in Florida’s game was the Penalty Kill, which went a perfect 3/3. The PK also accounted for the Panthers’ only goal of the night, with Sam Reinhart scoring his second short-handed goal of the season. Devine, Ekblad, and Rodrigues were the ones who got called for penalties. The PK was huge in the first to keep the Panthers from falling down 0-3 after two early goals by the Leafs had the Cats chasing the game. Early in the second period, Ekblad got called for holding, which led to Reinhart cutting the deficit down to 1 goal. The Rodrigues penalty came late in the third period, and while Florida killed it off, it ended up not mattering too much with the Leafs scoring an empty net goal to take the final 1-4 win. Overall, it was a nice improvement over the last couple of games. HC Paul Muarice said in his post-game media, “It’s finding that good feeling. Sometimes it’s not a whole game. You’ve got to start with a period. I thought we did that tonight even though it felt bad.” 

Getting Better:

It was a rough start to the match for Bobrovsky, allowing 2 goals on 2 shots. After that, though, he had a solid game and kept Florida in the match. In the second period, he was especially good and stopped all 9 shots. At least one of the early goals you’d probably like back, or ideally, Petry doesn’t lose body position on Joshua when the Leafs got the 2 on 2 off the faceoff draw. On the team’s struggles, Bob said, “Past experience helps you to believe. It’s everything in our heads. We have a great group of guys to do that.” Bob’s had some struggles over his last few starts, but it was good to see that Bob regained some of his familiar form as the game wore on. All the Cats can do at the moment is try to tread water and build their game until players are able to come back. Personally, it’s difficult to get mad over the losses when the injury bug has been so severe, and Florida isn’t icing a single line that played in the playoffs for them, let alone having more than one proper top-9 line to roll out night in and night out. 

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