Panthers Postscripts: Panthers ‘dug ourselves a hole’ regularly last week — and it cost them

The Florida Panthers have no problem playing from behind. No matter the situation, no matter the score, the Panthers believe they have a chance to win on any given night. Being battle tested and coming out on the right side of the situation so many times only aides in that belief.

But giving the opponent a three- or four-goal lead? That’s not a strategy for success.

The Panthers learned that the hard way last week, as each of Florida’s opponents raced out to at least a 3-0 advantage in the first half of their games. Florida salvaged the first game, rallying for a 4-3 road win against the Dallas Stars, but lost the following two 4-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes and 5-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for their first back-to-back regulation losses since Dec. 18 and 21.

“I think being engaged early is important,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart told reporters after the Saturday loss to the Lightning.

Consider this: The Panthers were outscored 10-1 in the opening 30 minutes of the three games last week.

The final 30 minutes of those three games? Florida had a 6-2 scoring edge.

“We’ve dug ourselves a hole the last couple,” Reinhart said, “but our game is there. It works when we’re executing it.”

That was the case Tuesday, when Florida scored four unanswered goals — including three in a span of 3:29 midway through the third period — for the unexpected win against the Stars. It marked the first time the Panthers overcame a three-goal deficit to win a game since April 5, 2022.

”You’ve got to give them credit, they dominated us most of the night,” star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said after the Dallas win. “And you have to give us credit, we found a way in the end.”

And then after coming up completely empty against Carolina, it was almost the case on Saturday against Tampa Bay, when Florida went from being down 4-0 seven minutes into the second period to pulling within a goal of the Lightning with 3:52 left in regulation. The Panthers held the Lightning to just five shots on goal over the final two periods and went 6 for 7 on the penalty kill.

But the four-goal deficit was too much to overcome.

“We’ve just got to try and replicate it and do it from the start,” Tkachuk said Saturday. “... When we’re playing our best and we take over like that, it should give us a lot of confidence against every team.”

Top performers of the week

▪ Sam Reinhart: The All-Star scored three goals and is now up to 48 on the season.

▪ Aleksander Barkov: The Panthers’ captain scored twice in the third period against the Stars, including potting the game-winning goal in their lone win of the week.

▪ Matthew Tkachuk: Tkachuk logged four points (one goal, three assists) over the three games.

Standings updates

With 14 games left in the regular season, the Panthers have a 45-19-4 record. With 94 points, that puts the Panthers...

▪ Second in the Atlantic Division behind the Boston Bruins, who have one more point (40-14-15, 95 points) but have played one more game than the Panthers.

▪ Tied for second in the Eastern Conference and the NHL overall with the New York Rangers, who have an identical 45-19-4 record as Florida. The Rangers currently own the tiebreaker over Florida, with 44 of their wins being in regulation or overtime compared to just 43 for the Panthers.

▪ 21 points ahead of the Washington Capitals (32-25-9, 73 points) and New York Islanders (29-23-15, 73 points), the teams just on the outside of the playoff field in the Eastern Conference.

Stories you might have missed

Our big story of the week: A look at how captain and star center Aleksander Barkov, known for doing so many things at an other-worldly level, has added some physicality to his game this season.

Barkov’s increased edge is part of a two-way street of improvement between him and his teammates. Barkov has been the model player for his fellow forwards to follow when it comes to playing Panthers coach Paul Maurice’s gritty, defensive-first style of play.

Meanwhile, the presence of physical, high-intensity forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, among others, have rubbed off on Barkov as well.

“I think there’s been some give and take there,” Maurice said. “There’s an honesty in Barkov’s game that is the umbrella of the entire program. Everybody works hard in the summer. Everybody gets to the rink early. Everybody treats the support staff with incredible respect — and I consider myself part of that support staff, people in suits. It’s a fine group of men and I think he and Matthew are the head of that in terms of style. He’s also throwing more hits now than he ever has, and that is a part of the rest of the guys wearing off on him. We’ve brought in some pretty competitive men. Sam Bennett is a competitive guy. Matthew comes in. We brought some energy into the team and he’s kind of morphed into that, too.”

Read the full story here.

Other stories of note:

▪ A Greg Cote column: ‘Reinvented’ Florida Panthers didn’t matter for decades. Now they’re Stanley Cup favorites

▪ The Panthers will play a pair of games in Barkov’s hometown of Tempere, Finland, next season as part of the NHL’s Global Series.

▪ Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is scheduled to have a disciplinary hearing on Monday for his illegal hit to the head of the Lightning’s Conor Sheary in the second period of Florida’s loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday.

▪ With defenseman Aaron Ekblad slated to miss at least two weeks, Josh Mahura is getting his chance to draw into the lineup again. Florida Hockey Now’s Colby Guy had a good story on how Mahura has stayed prepared for his moment.

The week ahead

The Panthers are off the first half of the week before playing three games in four days. That stretch starts Thursday with a home game against the Nashville Predators (7:30 p.m. puck drop, ESPN+/Hulu). The Panthers then play a road back-to-back against the New York Rangers on Saturday (8 p.m. puck drop, ABC) and Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (6 p.m. puck drop, Bally Sports Florida).