After winning four straight games, the Florida Panthers suffered badly on Tuesday in a 5-2 loss against the New York Rangers. The Cats got off to a strong start in the game, and led 2-1 in the second period. However, beyond that, it was all Rangers as the Blueshirts scored four unanswered goals to capture the win.
Period by Period Summary
The Rangers opened up the scoring early in this game with Mika Zibanejad scoring his 18th goal of the season. Later on in the frame, Florida would respond with Anthony Duclair scoring his 19th goal of the year to tie the game at one apiece.
Florida got the second period off to a great start. Two minutes in, Sam Reinhart scored on the power play to give the Cats the lead. The Rangers would respond shortly after with Alexis Lafreniere scoring to tie the game at two. Later on in the second frame, Chris Kreider scored his 32nd goal of the season passing Leon Draisaitl for the league lead in goals.
Kreider would also open scoring in the third with a power play goal to put his season total at 33. Panarin would add an empty-netter to give the Rangers a 5-2 win.
Takeaways
- It was the Panthers first loss since January 23rd
- Chris Kreider is now two goals ahead of Leon Draisaitl for the lead in goals
- The Panthers still sit atop the division ahead of the all-star break despite the loss.
Up Next
The Florida Panthers will have a much-needed two-week break. The Panthers return to action on Wednesday, February 16th, to face the Carolina Hurricanes on the road.
(Featured image by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)