On the second night of a back-to-back, the Florida Panthers lost to the Seattle Kraken at home, 4-1. With the loss, it would snap Florida’s 11-game winning streak at home to start the season, which still ties the 1963-64 Chicago Blackhawks.
Former Florida Panthers goaltender and fan-favorite Chris Driedger would have a huge homecoming, stopping 33 of 34 shots. Jordan Eberle would also score two goals in his 800th NHL game to lead the Kraken in scoring. Spencer Knight would stop only 23 of 26 shots.
First Period:
25 seconds into the game, ex-Panther Alex Wennberg would draw a penalty on Gustav Forsling. Ryan Lomberg and Jonathan Huberdeau would have short-handed opportunities on the Kraken power play, but both shots were stopped by Driedger. However, with three seconds left with a man up, Jordan Eberle would score out in front, with Vince Dunn and Joonas Donoski setting him up. Donoski would have two assists on the night.
A little over four and a half minutes later, the Panthers would tie the game when a shot by MacKenzie Weegar tipped off of Patric Hornqvist, and went past Driedger. The Kraken would retake the lead when a shot rebounded to Ryan Donato, and he would put it past Knight to make it 2-1.
Second Period:
A high-scoring first period moved to a scoreless second period. The Panthers outshot the Kraken 13-7, but could not put any past Driedger.
Third Period:
With around six minutes gone in the period, the Kraken would extend their lead to 3-1. A shot by Yanni Gourde was rebounded by Jordan Eberle, and he would backhand it past Knight. Spencer Knight would get pulled from the game with four minutes remaining. 25 seconds later, Jamie Oleksiak would get his first goal of the year on an empty-netter.
Takeaways:
- Florida forward Joe Thornton’s first-period assist was the 1,532nd point of his career, breaking a tie with Paul Coffey and giving him outright possession of No. 13 on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. Thornton is the leader among active players and now one point shy of No. 12 Mark Recchi.
- The Panthers’ 15 game home winning streak is the sixth longest in NHL history. Detroit has the longest home-ice winning streak in NHL history, winning 23 in a row during the 2011-12 season. Boston (spanning the 1929-30 and 1930-31 seasons) had a 22-game streak and Philadelphia won 20 in a row in 1976. Boston also had a 19-game home winning streak in 1970-71 and a 16-game run in 1976.
- Jordan Eberle would play his 800th game Saturday night (He was with the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders before being selected in the expansion draft by the Kraken.)
Next Up:
The Florida Panthers will stay home and play the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.
(Featured image by Jim Rassol/AP)