Florida Panthers Got Smacked Around by the Devils. It’s OK

SUNRISE — After losing for the second time in three nights to the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked whether he was just going to put Thursday’s loss in the dustbin of history.

As the saying goes, just burn the tape.

Maurice said he would not discard what the Devils did to his team in their two-game sweep of the Panthers this week — one which included a 6-2 win on Thursday night.

He is just not going to let it marinate in his mind for too long.

“You have to deal with it, you’re not going to let it go,’’ Maurice said. “You don’t put a weight on it that it shouldn’t carry.

“We haven’t loved our last two. You’re not going to love them all.’’

The Panthers and Devils played a pretty close-knit two-game set this week — for a while.

New Jersey ended up blowing things out in both.

On Tuesday, New Jersey led 2-1 until late in the third when it scored on a Paul Cotter goal to end Florida’s seven-game winning streak and eventually win 4-1.

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Thursday, the game was tied at 2 before a puck went off Dmitry Kulikov’s skate on a penalty kill in the second and turned into a 6-2 rout.

Florida, which has had a penalty kill and power play in the top 10 all season long, failed to do much in either department Thursday.

The Devils scored on their first three power-play chances — and the Panthers went 0-for-5 when they had the advantage.

Jesper Bratt, who got the second hat trick of his NHL career Thursday, became the first New Jersey player in over 30 years to get goals 5-on-5 as well as on the power play and shorthanded.

That sounds like something Sam Reinhart would do.

Hey, it was one of those nights.

“In both games they played really good offensively and we couldn’t get our offense going at all,”said captain Sasha Barkov, whose team was outscored 10-3 in those two losses to the Devils.

“We’re not happy, at all, with the past two games — especially this one. We just have to learn from it and move on.”

Florida had been rolling something special before the Devils came to town and took the Panthers apart.

Yes, the games were close 30 minutes in.

No, they were not close at the final horn.

These games certainly seemed to mean more to a New Jersey team trying to prove last year’s disappointment was a fluke and not its reality.

The Devils are a contender this season, and they took a heaping spoon-full of legitimacy with them on their flight to Tampa following Thursday’s win.

Now, what do these two losses mean to the Panthers?

Probably not a whole lot.

Maurice had warned that his team would suffer some sort of fatigue coming out of its five-game road trip which started in New York City and ended in Tampere, Finland.

The Panthers did go 5-0 on that trip before winning the next two after coming home.

But the Devils were in their details this week, and the Panthers simply were behind the game for much of the six periods played against New Jersey.

Florida never held a lead against New Jersey in the two games.

“The penalty kill is a strength of ours,’’ Maurice said, “and we need to get those killed. They moved the puck around, have a really good power play.

“We couldn’t get a handle on it at times. … Lots of small things, there wasn’t a theme to it. It started on the face off and went south after that.’’

The Panthers will take Friday off but a new challenge is on the horizon.

The Winnipeg Jets, who won 14 of their first 15 games, are coming off a loss in Tampa.

Florida and Maurice’s old team will play the first of a home-and-home Saturday night in Sunrise.

The Panthers cannot sulk about the two losses to the Devils for two long or this two-game skid will turn into a good old-fashioned losing streak.

Truth is, this is nowhere near the end of the world for the defending Stanley Cup champs.

New Jersey played its way into believing it was as good as it thought it was.

Now is the time for the Panthers to get back on track.

It is a long season.

Florida, at 11-5-1, has banked some points and is doing just fine.

A win on Saturday, and it will be easy to forget what happened against the Devils this week.

“We know who is coming into town,’’ Barkov said, “the best team in the league right now. They are playing unbelievable hockey, so we have to be ready right away.

“It starts now.”

ON DECK: GAME 18

WINNIPEG JETS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Saturday, 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
• Last season: Winnipeg won 2-0
• This season — At Florida: Saturday. At Winnipeg: Tuesday.
• All-time regular season series: Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets lead 54-31-8, 5 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Winnipeg Jets, 8 p.m. ET