Snowed In: Colorado Avalanche Bury Florida Panthers

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers got off to a hot start Saturday night, but a Colorado Avalanche in the third buried them in a 7-4 loss.

The Panthers have lost three straight and five of the past six.

Colorado, which scored four straight goals in the second before the Panthers finally answered, has won six of seven and three straight.

Florida led 2-1 going into the second period courtesy of goals from Carter Verhaeghe — who scored 52 seconds in off a pass from new linemate Anton Lundell — and Sasha Barkov.

Only Colorado scored three before the 10-minute mark of the second to take a 4-2 lead, with a Mikko Rantanen goal making it 5-2 with 3:02 left in the period.

Florida did cut its deficit to 2, Sam Reinhart getting his 16th of the season by redirecting a shot from Aaron Ekblad on the power play with 80 seconds remaining in the period.

The Panthers appeared to make it a 5-4 game on a 5-on-3 power play — only Ekblad’s goal was waved off with Matthew Tkachuk called for goalie interference by getting tangled up with the stick of Alexandar Georgiev. 

Florida challenged the call but it was upheld and the score remained 5-3.

Per the NHL: Video review confirmed Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk impaired Alexandar Georgiev’s ability to play his position in the crease prior to Aaron Ekblad’s goal.

The Panthers are 0-8-0 when trailing coming into the third period.

HOW THEY SCORED

• Panthers 1, Avalanche 0 (0:52 1st): Carter Verhaeghe gets his first goal in seven games, firing off a sharp-angle shot from 35 feet out off a pass from Anton Lundell.
• Avalanche 1, Panthers 1 (9:13 1st): A Cale Makar shot comes off of Sergei Bobrovsky and deflects off Jonathan Drouin and in.
• Panthers 2, Avalanche 1 (15:44 1st): Niko Mikkola’s shot from inside the blue is deflected by Matthew Tkachuk — and then batted home by Sasha Barkov.
• Avalanche 2, Panthers 2 (0:34 2nd): Drouin picks up a pass from inside the blueline by Makar and backhands it past Bobrovsky.
• Avalanche 3, Panthers 2 (4:04 2nd): Colorado stings Florida on a line change with Oliver Kylington springing Logan O’Connor and he walks in and goes bar-down for Colorado’s first lead.
• Avalanche 4, Panthers 2 (8:54 2nd): A soft point shot from Samuel Girard hits Dmitry Kulikov’s skate in front as he blocks out Casey Mittelstadt and that’s three straight goals for the Avs.
• Avalanche 5, Panthers 2 (16:58 2nd): Make that five straight. Mikko Rantanen camps out at the side of the net and taps in Girard’s pass from the top of the left circle.
• Avalanche 5, Panthers 3 (18:40 2nd PP): The Panthers finally stanch the bleeding with Sam Reinhart scoring his 16th of the season by deflecting an Aaron Ekblad shot in from 15 feet out.
• Avalanche 6, Panthers 3 (15:49 3rd): Kylington rips one from the slot and this one is all but done.
• Avalanche 7, Panthers 3 (17:15 3rd EN): Valeri Nichushkin gets an empty-netter.
• Avalanche 7, Panthers 4 (18:17 3rd): Lundell gets one to make it a little closer.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

• 1. Samuel Girard, Colorado
• 2. Jonathan Drouin, Colorado
• 3. Cale Makar, Colorado

ON DECK: GAME 22

WASHINGTON CAPITALS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Monday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• This Season — At Washington: Feb. 4; March 22. At Florida: Monday.
• Last Season: Panthers won 3-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Washington leads 67-48-13, 9 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Wednesday vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.