The Florida Panthers returned home to take a disappointing 4-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida drew the game’s first power play, but former Panther Kevin Stenlund pressured Uvis Balinskis into a giveaway and Nick Schmaltz took off on a breakway, lifting a backhand shot over Sergei Bobrovsky to open the scoring with 4:14 left in the first period.

Sandis Vilmanis would notch his first NHL goal by beating Vitek Vanecek from the middle of the slot following a ghastly turnover by Ian Cole to tie the tilt 2:52 into the middle frame.

Unfortunately, the Cats failed to build momentum as Sean Durzi put the Mammoth back on top 54 seconds later. Brad Marchand was foiled at the Utah blue line and the visitors went the other way. Michael Carcone centered out to Jack McBain from the left corner and he patiently waited for Durzi to open up before feeding him in the slot for a successful wrister with Bobrovsky completely out of position.

Cole Schwindt would be the receipent of some dogged work by Vilmanis and A.J. Greer, who forced Durzi into gagging the puck up. Schwindt fired the loose puck home from the right circle at 9:55 for his first goal since returning to the lineup.

Durzi would pick up his second point of the night when his shot from the right point deflected in off Mikhail Sergachev, with Lawson Crouse providing a screen, to give the Mammoth its third lead of the night at 11:05 of the third.

Barrett Hayton would provide the clincher, which turned into the game-winner, with a empty-netter with 56 ticks left on the clock to put the Mammoth up by two.

Utah would need that goal as Carter Verhaeghe too a drop pass from Sam Bennett and snapped a shot past Vanecek from just above the left circle at 19:44 with the teams skating 5-on-4 and Bobrovsky again off for an extra attacker. Brad Marchand drew the second assist on Verhaeghe’s 16th of the season.

Too little, too late as the Panthers now find themselves six points out of a playoff spot, thanks to the loss and Boston’s 3-2 overtime win over Nashville. Tough to drop this one as the Mammoth played the night before in Tampa and had the struggling Vanecek, who ended a personal ten-game losing streak, between the pipes. A 2-2 game in the third at home and the Cats just couldn’t get it done… no bueno. The two late embellishment calls didn’t help either.

The Five Hole

Sandis Vilmanis was named the Second Star for scoring his first big-league goal which came in his ninth NHL game, and dishing out a team-high five hits. It was Vilmanis’ second career point.

By completing the scoring, Carter Verhaeghe extended his point streak to three games. Verhaeghe finished with a game-high four shots on goal.

Sam Bennett’s primary assist on Verhaeghe’s marker was his 41st point of the season. That matches the third-highest total of his career, set in 2023-24. Bennett needs just 11 points to better the 51 points he amassed last season, with 30 games to go.

Brad Marchand became the second Panther to hit the 50-point plateau this season. Marchand is tied again with Sam Reinhart for the team scoring lead.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 of 19 shots and gave up three or more goals for the fifth-straight start.

Stat Card