Colby Guy
SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers got six power play chances Tuesday in what could, without much hyperbole, be described as an embarrassing 8-2 home loss against the Ottawa Senators.
If you are good at reading comprehension, you can probably figure out how Florida did on those power play chances.
Simply put: Not good.
Florida went 0-6 while carrying the man advantage, the most glaring stat in a game that — at least when it came to how the Panthers performed — was pretty ugly.
“It doesn’t feel good, for sure,” Aaron Ekblad said. “We have got to find a way to find confidence, play well with the puck. We can do it 5-on-5, we don’t need to do it 5-on-5, so I don’t know what it is.
“I know, personally, I think I should be better on the power play, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Since Dec. 1, the Panthers are 3-26 (11.5 percent) with the man advantage, which is sixth-worst among teams during that span.
Andrew Brunette, who still remains in charge of the power play after taking over head coaching duties in late October, is tasked with fixing it.
He does not have to be reminded of this.
“It hasn’t really flowed,” Brunette said. “Kind of getting stuck a little bit, and nights like tonight where we’re not particularly sharp, it looks worse.
“It’s a concern, it’s something we’ve kind of moved things around and we’re missing some guys personnel-wise, so it’ll be better when it needs to be better.”
It has been no secret that the Panthers have been dealing with injuries to key players.
Anthony Duclair made his return to the lineup after being out since Nov. 24, but most notably, captain Sasha Barkov missed all but one game since Nov. 16.
Since the Panthers began playing without Barkov, Florida’s power play is 6-for-39 (15.4 percent,) which is tied for sixth-worst in the league.
Prior to Barkov’s absence, Florida’s power play was 10-for-47 (21.3 percent) and tied for 13th in the league.
While those numbers are still middle-of-the-pack, Barkov made a big difference on the power play, so perhaps his return could help it recover a bit.
The Senators took an early lead just 4:48 into the game.
Austin Watson batted a Nick Paul shot out of the air to beat rookie Spencer Knight — who may be headed to the minors (temporarily) to get some more playing time — for the goal.
With 7:55 left in the opening frame, Jonathan Huberdeau tied the game with a one-timer off of a feed from Sam Reinhart.
The Panthers had three power play opportunities in the first period, not scoring on any of them.
The third of those opportunities bled into the second period, giving them 1:35 of power play time to start off.
Florida could not get anything going on that power play and, to add insult to injury, allowed a shorthanded goal to Dylan Gambrell with five seconds left on the man advantage to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead.
Reinhart tied the game with 4:27 to go in the second off of a rebound from a Carter Verhaeghe shot.
Only the Senators struck back.
With a vengeance.
Josh Norris ended up with a goal after on-ice officials ruled his shot did not completely cross the goal line but video review showed that it did.
Just over a minute later, Tim Stutzle scored to give Ottawa a 4-2 lead going into the third.
Florida, which has come back in the third period so many times, were not panicking and — despite being down two goals — appeared to be OK.
Norris struck again 33 seconds into the third period. Ottawa 5, Florida 2.
The Panthers had a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play with 16:17 to go in regulation. Despite getting a solid amount of scoring chances, they weren’t able to capitalize on it.
Drake Batherson made it a 6-2 Ottawa 27 seconds after Florida’s power play chance expired when Knight turned the puck over behind his net, giving Batherson a wide-open net to shoot at.
Ottawa added another pair of goals 33 seconds apart to make it an 8-2 game with 5:03 to go.
Ugly, really, doesn’t describe this game from the Florida point of view.
These kind of games happen sometimes.
Or, over the course of an 82-game season, are due to happen.
The Panthers, who are taking Wednesday off, get a chance to get back at it Thursday against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.
“We haven’t really had one like this,’’ Reinhart said, “It’s a long season, they’re going to come. It’s a matter of responding, getting our rest, regrouping and coming back Thursday.”
Added Ekblad: “We’re going to face adversity as a team, we know that. It’s all about coming back to work (Thursday) and finding a way. We know we’re a good team, and we’re going to find a way.”