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In their ‘biggest game of the year,’ Panthers fall flat. They still can’t beat Carolina

Aleksander Barkov sat down at the lectern after the Florida Panthers’ latest 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and was ready to answer questions as if it was a script he’d been studying.

Why can’t you beat the Hurricanes? What makes their penalty kill so good? Are you frustrated?

“Coming here,” star center Aleksander Barkov said, “I felt like it’d probably be the same questions as like seven other games.”

The story was the same as it has been over and over again when the Panthers face Carolina this season. This time, it was taken to an extreme.

The Panthers (30-13-5) went 1 for 9 on the power play, gave up a pair of shorthanded goals and let a chance to beat their rival slip away when they gave up three straight goals in the second period. Florida has now lost 6 of 7 to Carolina — including six straight — and is 3 of 37 on the power play against the Hurricanes (31-10-5) this year.

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On Tuesday, coach Joel Quenneville called it “our biggest game of the year” and his Panthers fell flat with a chance to take sole possession of first place in the Central Division.

Time to join the bandwagon: First-place Panthers set for ‘biggest game of year’ vs. Canes

Carolina now leads Florida by two points after breaking a tie for first and the Hurricanes have still played two fewer games than the Panthers, giving them a substantial lead in points percentage. Florida still holds a one-point lead on the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning, but the Lightning has also played one fewer game than the Panthers.

With eight games left in the 2020-21 NHL season, Florida is running out of time to make up ground and now faces a near must-win situation Saturday when it wraps up this two-game series in Sunrise.

“We’d like to win in regulation,” Quenneville said, “so there’s still a chance on the other end of it.”

Playoff-type games have been few and far between for the Panthers in the last five years, and they expected Thursday to feel like one. They geared up for it in the days prior, resting right wing Patric Hornqvist on Tuesday and making sure defenseman MacKenzie Weegar would be back after he missed two games earlier in the week with an upper-body injury, and they started their physical third-line to try to set the tone in South Florida.

Left wing Ryan Lomberg fought with forward Cedric Paquette less than six minutes in. Versatile forward Sam Bennett tried to fight with Jordan Martinook eight minutes later after the Hurricane boarded him. On the ensuing power play, winger Anthony Duclair was looking for anyone to fight with after Carolina roughed him up while he tried to enter the zone.

“Absolutely, it had that feel from puck drop to the final buzzer,” Lomberg said. “We knew it was going to be an intense game.”

The final totals for the first period: seven penalties — five minors and two fighting majors — and five unsuccessful power plays. The Panthers went 0 for 3 and the Hurricanes went 0 for 2. They combined for only two shots with the extra man. Florida led 1-0 on a goal by Barkov to end a three-shot flurry, but otherwise Carolina held the Panthers to just three shots in the period and piled up nine. The Hurricanes generated nearly as many shorthanded scoring chances as Florida did in the entire opening period.

In the second period, the possession numbers — and special-teams futility — caught up to the Panthers, and Carolina erased their lead and swung the the game with three unanswered goals.

The Hurricanes tied the game at 1-1 on a goal by Martinook just 14 seconds into the period. Carolina’s persistent forecheck forced goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky into a giveaway when Lomberg was caught out of position on a clearing attempt and the versatile Hurricanes forward finished a one-timer from Carolina center Jordan Staal, who was set up behind the net.

Nearly 11 minutes later, Carolina took the lead for good when it finally broke through on a power play. After the Panthers held the Hurricanes to just one shot on Carolina’s first two power plays, the Hurricanes finally put another on net on their third chance and Carolina winger Nino Niederreiter pounced on the rebound to put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 with 9:51 left in the second.

Florida’s power-play breakthrough only came when it got a 5-on-3 chance and Barkov capitalized for his second goal with 7:58 left. In normal 5-on-4 power-play action, the Panthers managed only nine shots and they often couldn’t even get set up in the offensive zone, unable to beat the Hurricanes’ neutral-zone trap.

“It’s frustrating,” Barkov said, “when you don’t even get in the zone.”

They finished the game on a power play, too. Carolina picked up another penalty with 1:42 left and Florida sent Bobrovsky to the bench to set up a 6-on-4. Instead, the Panthers gave up a short-handed, empty-net goal.

Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced and outdueled Bobrovsky, who saved 30 of the 33 shots he saw.

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (39) blocks a shot by Florida Panthers left wing Anthony Duclair (91) during the first period of their NHL game at the BB&T Center on Thursday, April 21, 2021 in Sunrise, Fl.
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (39) blocks a shot by Florida Panthers left wing Anthony Duclair (91) during the first period of their NHL game at the BB&T Center on Thursday, April 21, 2021 in Sunrise, Fl.

When Florida retreated to the dressing room after another frustrating loss, the Panthers took a moment to reflect. It has not been a season for team meetings and Barkov didn’t term this as one, either.

Everyone knows the questions, but can they find the answers?

“We just said a couple things,” the captain said. “We’re at a good spot in the standings, but we know Carolina has been beating us this season and we’ve just got to find a way to win these games.”