George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers again failed to win the opening game of a postgame series as they lost 2-1 to the New York Islanders in Game 1 of their best-of-five Stanley Cup qualifier on Saturday afternoon.
You have to go back 23 years to find the last time Florida won a Game 1 of a postgame series.
In 1997, the Panthers trounced the Rangers 3-0 at Miami Arena before dropping the next four.
Since then, the Panthers have gone 0-4 in Game 1s including Saturday’s loss in the qualifier.
Game 2 is Tuesday at noon.
On Saturday, the Panthers fell behind 2-0 in the second period and really seemed to pick things up — although the style New York plays certainly is not conducive for a team trying to play catchup.
After Sergei Bobrovsky (26 saves) made a big stop on a streaking Brock Nelson with 30 seconds left in the second, Florida made it a new ball game.
Just 23 seconds into the third, Jonathan Huberdeau drove in on Semyon Varlamov (27 saves) and bachanded a shot through to make it 2-1.
Huberdeau’s goal was the fastest to start a postseason period in franchise history besting Stephen Weiss in 2012 by a second. And it gave the Panthers new life.
“When we went into the second intermission, we said we had to score the next one,’’ Huberdeau said, “and that’s what we did.
“It was good for the team. After that, I think we pushed really hard we just didn’t find the back of the net. We have two days here between Game 2 and need to come back as hard as we finished.”
Although the Panthers pushed, they continued to struggle keeping the puck in the New York zone as the Islanders collapsed into the middle of the ice and kept Florida on the outside looking in.
“We didn’t generate a ton after that,” coach Joel Quenneville conceded, “but I thought we pushed them to the end.”
Sasha Barkov, who had two shots on goal but none in the third, said after a slow start the Panthers found their footing.
“We got better once the game went on,’’ Barkov said. “In the second, third period; We were good. We put a lot of pressure on them.
“Game 2 starts 0-0, so we have to keep doing what we did in the second half of the game. Keep getting better, keep building on that and we should be fine.
“We’re really excited and we’re really happy about our late push. Obviously it is not the result we wanted, but we’re going to get better.”
Losing Game 1 is certainly not the end of the world, but the Panthers are going to have to try and figure out how to put some pucks past the Islanders — whether it is Varlamov or Thomas Greiss (who may get the Game 3 start).
All four games between the two were close this season, all being one-goal games (the Islanders got an empty net to win 3-1 in December).
And, all four of those games were won by the Islanders.
What New York does under coach Barry Trotz is no surprise to the Panthers — but as of yet, they haven’t figured out a solution.
They had better come Tuesday.
It is tough enough losing the opener of a best-of-five series; you cannot lose the second one and realistically expect to come back and win this thing.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Quenneville said. “It reminded me of the three games we had against them in the regular season. … This is what we expected coming into this series.
“It is tight, not a lot of scoring chances although there may have been more — both ways — than I anticipated. You have to expect a low-scoring game, be patient and find a way to fight through it.“
WHAT WENT DOWN
Quenneville made a number of lineup changes, including scratching Lucas Wallmark and inserting Dominic Toninato in to center the third line.
Florida started its reunited first line as expected, with Sasha Barkov centering Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov.
From there, things were a little mixed up.
Here were the lines, 2-4: Mike Hoffman/Erik Haula/Noel Acciari; Frank Vatrano/Toninato/Brett Connolly; Colton Sceviour/Brian Boyle/Mark Pysyk.
Although Quenneville said Friday that all of his players were healthy and ready to go, he was vague on the reason why Wallmark — a key piece to the Vincent Trocheck trade in February — was not in the lineup.
“He’s close,” Quenneville said of Wallmark. “We will reevaluate the lineup going into the next game.”
— Bobrovsky gave up two goals on 28 shots but was solid throughout and kept the Panthers in the game.
In the closing minute of the second, Bobrovsky made a big save on Brock Nelson as he charged in on a 2-on-1 break.
Had Nelson put one through, this game may have been over right then and there.
With 4:15 left in the game, Bobrovsky stopped Nelson again.
“He had a great game,” Quenneville said. “I thought he made several key saves all alone. He looked quick, gave us a chance to get something out of today’s game.”
Bobrovsky said he felt good throughout the game and his team’s improved defense helped him see the puck.
The Florida defense was credited with 32 hits and blocked 15 shots.
“I thought the guys worked very hard defensively, thought they allowed me to see the puck,” Bobrovsky said.
“They cleared the puck out, did good in the defensive zone. I think guys felt better but we need to take it to another level.”
Said Huberdeau of Bobrovsky’s performance: “Bob was really good today. He helped us keep us down a goal and we pushed. We didn’t get the goal, but Bob will be good the whole series. We just need to put the puck in the net.”
— The difference in this game was special teams as the Islanders’ game-winner came on a power play goal 3:39 into the second.
Florida only got one power play chance and it came with 4:23 left in the first period. The Panthers got some real good looks and challenged Varlamov but failed to score on their three shots.
“We didn’t get a long look in that area,’’ Quenneville said. “That will help spurn us to some more offense as well.”
— Florida was called for a number of early penalties which appeared to slow their start.
At 1:29 Mathew Barzal was called for interference, only Florida’s Frank Vatrano was hit with a tripping call.
The Panthers were then called for two more penalties in the opening 5:12 of the game.
“There was a different atmosphere, different energy and the guys were very high emotionally,” Bobrovsky said.
“We took some extra penalties which we don’t need. I thought we got some momentum going in the second. Overall, it was a pretty good game. It is a best-of-five and we have to build up from this. The Islanders like these kind of games, 2-1 is their (kind of) score.”
— Florida’s top line had a total of seven shots on goal with Barkov getting three of them.
— While Florida had five players make their NHL postseason debuts (Evgenii Dadonov, Mark Pysyk, Riley Stillman, Dominic Toninato and MacKenzie Weegar), Anton Stralman celebrated his 34th birthday by playing in his 105th career postseason game.
— Islanders coach Barry Trotz on his team’s style of play: “We have an understanding of what we’re capable of doing, what we are. I don’t think we try to be something that we’re not.”
GAME BREAKDOWN
First period: The Islanders failed to take advantage of a couple of power play chances, ending the period 0-2 with only two shots on goal.
New York took a 1-0 lead at the 12-minute mark after former Panther (for about three weeks) Derick Brassard tracked down a bouncing puck and found a streaking J-G Pageau in front of Toninato.
The Panthers opened the game by not putting a shot on goal for the first 10:45, but picked up their offensive push in the second half of the period.
Florida got its first power play chance when Dadonov was pulled down and ended up getting a number of scoring chances.
New York ended the period with a 11-9 shot advantage.
Florida was credited with 10 hits in the opening period. Ekblad led all skaters in icetime with 7:52 off 10 shifts. He would end the game leading everyone with 25:34.
Second period: The Islanders were able to cash in on their one power play chance after Mike Matheson was hit with a illegal check to the head of defenseman Johnny Boychuk and knocking him from the game.
The Islanders also lost defenseman Adam Pelech for a time in the second leaving them with four defensemen.
Matheson was originally charged with a major penalty for elbowing, but that was overturned after being reviewed and he only took a minor.
“They took a look at it,” Quenneville said afterward. “I thought it was a clean hit. Sometimes, unfortunately guys get hit when they’re looking a little compromised. I thought it was a clean hit.”
At 3:39 of the second, Anthony Beauvillier fired a shot from the right circle which skipped between Bobrovsky’s skates for a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers had numerous chances to get on the board in the second as they outshot the Islanders 14-7 in the period and started sustaining a decent push in the offensive zone.
Yet as you can see from the heat map below (thanks naturalstattrick.com), Florida kept most of its shots from the outside and did not do much in the way of getting in front of Varlamov.
Third period: Huberdeau had the Cats jumping early as he made it a one-goal game 23 seconds into the frame.
Florida definitely had new life, but could not find the equalizer as the Islanders clamped down defensively and did not give the Panthers much room to work in the offensive zone.
In the third, the Islanders outshot the Panthers 10-5.
Next up — Game 2
Islanders lead 1-0
When, where: Tuesday, noon; Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
TV/Radio: Fox Sports Florida, NBCSN; 560-AM