Tarasov defending the net in the first period. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

After a great shutout win against Vegas, Florida had to grind out a point against the Ducks on Tuesday. Florida’s 5v5 looked solid; it was the special teams that really hurt them in the end. The Panthers had a comeback third period to tie the game, sending it into overtime and eventually a shootout. The Cats were out two more regular players with Brad Marchand having a death in the family and Jonah Gadjovich dealing with a short-term injury he sustained during the Vegas game; HC Paul Maurice only expects him to be out about a week. Florida showed great fight to get back into the game in the final minutes of the game. Like most of their October games this year, there are some positives to take away and, as always, other things to work on. As the team improves, the rest will fall into place, but it is evident that they’re missing two point-per-game players in the lineup.

Burned By Special Teams:

It was an uneventful first period that left things scoreless after twenty minutes of play. The second period is where things went a bit wrong for the Panthers. Despite having three straight power plays in the middle frame, it was the Ducks who opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Carlsson. Miscommunication between the Florida players left Carlsson wide open for the pass, and his shot then found the back of the net. Penalties burned the Panthers two and a half minutes later, where Gauthier converted a 5v3 power play opportunity for a 0-2 lead. The Panthers’ special teams have been relatively good given the team injuries, but it wasn’t their best night against Anaheim. The Florida power play struggled all night as they weren’t able to convert any man-advantages into a goal.

Comeback Third:

The Panthers finally found some offense in the final frame of play. Just under nine minutes into the period, Anton Lundell scored the Cats’ first goal on a shot that went in on the far side. He got he pass from Samoskevich, who’s had a fantastic season so far, and Luostarinen got the secondary assist. However, none of that play happens if Jones doesn’t make a great play to keep the puck in the zone and get it in deep. He won’t get credited with an assist on the scoresheet, but he does deserve credit for the play he made to keep the pressure on. For the first time in quite a while, the empty net went in Florida’s favor. There was 3:14 on the clock when HC Paul Maurice pulled Tarasov for the extra attacker. The clock read 3:06 when Reinhart scored the game-tying goal that would send the match to overtime. Lundell won the faceoff, Verhaeghe got the puck to Jones, and Seth took that shot that Reinhart tipped in to make the score 2-2. Similar to last season, it’s taken a little bit to get Samson going, but now he’s on a three-game goal streak; the new Verhaeghe-Rodrigues-Reinhart line seems to be a good match for all three players. 

Went The Distance:

Regulation wasn’t enough, overtime wasn’t enough, this game needed to go all the way to the shootout to determine a winner. Don’t let the final 2-3 loss influence your opinion on Tarasov; he kept the Panthers in the game and made some massive stops during OT. Florida’s just not given him the goal support to get him in the win column yet. Verhaeghe credited Tarasov during his postgame media availability with keeping Florida in the game and giving them a chance to win. What was probably the most frustrating part of OT was the Panthers not converting on the power play they got with just over 4 minutes of OT remaining. Lundell scored Florida’s only goal in the shootout, while Anaheim got the win with goals from Tarry and a controversial one from McTavish, where it appeared he stopped his forward momentum to make a play with his stick. HC Paul Maurice, in his postgame interview, talked about how the team is learning from the early-season adversity as they’ve done when they’ve faced it in years past. It is one of the Cats’ most impressive qualities; they learn from their mistakes and consistently implement the adjustments required to fix the problem. One of the biggest ones I look at is both of Florida’s Cup Final series against Edmonton. In 2024, one of their biggest issues was not starting off strong in the first period and having to try to dig themselves out of a hole. They made sure that was not an issue in 2025 as they scored at least 2 goals in the opening period in every single game of the Final. Honestly, there’s no reason to panic about the team right now. They’re 5-5-1 currently, where last season they were 7-3-1, so they’re only four points off where they were at the same time last year. 

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.