The Florida Panthers road woes continued on Thursday night. Florida lost to the rusty Dallas Stars 6-5 in a shootout. Despite having a 17-day, six-game layoff due to COVID, the Dallas Stars broke through, being led by their goaltender Braden Holtby, who stopped 37 of 42 shots including two in the shootout.
First Period:
The Panthers would get the first power play of the game at 8:09 when John Klingberg held Carter Verhaeghe. 19 seconds later, the Panthers would take a 1-0 lead when Jonathan Huberdeau set up a short pass to Aleksander Barkov, who slapped it home past Braden Holtby. Just under four and a half minutes later, the Stars would tie it at one when Michael Raffl tipped it in past Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-hole. With six seconds remaining left in the period, Maxim Mamin would receive a hooking penalty, which would go into the second period.
Second Period:
The second period would be a goal-scoring bonanza, with six total goals scored. 18 seconds into the period, and on the penalty kill, the Panthers would take a 2-1 lead when Anton Lundell set up a stolen puck to Aleksander Barkov, who beat the Stars defenseman past the crease, and eventually past Holtby. The Stars would tie the game on the same power play when a one-timer by Jamie Benn trickled past Sergei Bobrovsky, which was knocked in by Denis Guriamov. A little over two minutes later, the Panthers would retake the lead when Patric Hornqvist would knock in a shot out in front by Gustav Forsling.
The Stars would score two goals in 28 seconds to tie, and eventually take the first lead against the Panthers. Jason Robertson would tie the game at three when he shot a pass from the blueline, and deflected off two Panthers. They would grab the lead, 4-3, when Tyler Seguin got a breakaway, and shot it backhanded past Bobrovsky while he was making a move. A little over three and a half minutes later, the Panthers would tie the game at four when Eetu Luostarinen would set up Mackenzie Weegar perfectly, who shot it from the faceoff circle past Holtby. There were also 34 total shots in this period (20 by Dallas and 14 by Florida).
Third Period:
This would be a very defensive period overall, with only 11 shots taken (nine by the Panthers).
The Stars would take a 5-4 lead when Jamie Benn ripped a wrist shot out in front after missing a shot a couple of seconds earlier. A turning point that kept the Panthers in the game was a breakaway that was kept away by Brandon Montour. After pulling Bobrovsky from the net for the man advantage, and multiple great defensive stops by the Stars, the Panthers would tie the game at five when Jonathan Huberdeau would rifle a shot above Holtby’s glove. The goal came with just 29 seconds left in regulation.
Overtime/Shootout:
It would be a defensive overtime, as the Stars got multiple chances to ice the game quickly, with four shots taken in the period. The Panthers would also have multiple chances to win the game on steals by Barkov and Verhaeghe, but were stopped by Holtby.
In the shootout, Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson would beat Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-hole, while the Stars would get the extra point with Holtby stopping Huberdeau and Lundell.
Takeaways:
- Joe Thornton played in his 1700th NHL game; only the sixth NHL player to do so.
- Aleksander Barkov scored twice; its his 22nd career multi-goal game.
Next Up:
The Panthers will travel to Raleigh to play the Carolina Hurricanes in an Eastern Conference heavyweight match on Saturday night.
(Featured image by LM Otero/AP)