Panthers Postgame: Florida Has Lost 3 Straight, Goals Scarce

We knew the Florida Panthers were going to need to adjust to having to play without Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk at the top of their lineup.

In the first week, it looked like the Panthers had things figured out.

Then came this week.

The Panthers opened up at home with three straight wins, becoming one of three defending Stanley Cup championship teams in the past quarter century to open at 3-0.

Yet the road, thus far,

has not been kind to the Panthers, Florida now 0-3 away from Sunrise after losing 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

In the three losses, the Panthers have scored four goals.

Total.

Coach Paul Maurice has thrown his lines into a Magic Bullet — you know, not a heavy-duty blender, kind of a mini-blender — in trying to get things going.

Brad Marchand has moved around, Sam Reinhart as well.

There are only so many combinations Maurice can try.

Things just are not working right now.

“We weren’t very good and I will leave it at that,” Maurice said on Thursday night.

Florida was getting good production out of its power play early on, scoring at least a goal in four straight games — and three in Saturday’s 6-2 rout of the Senators.

Only on Thursday, the Panthers could not get a power play goal despite a couple of great opportunities late in the second and early in the third with the score tied at 1.

Not long after Florida failed to score on a Jesper Bratt penalty, the Devils got a deflection goal from Timo Meier.

Nico Hischier added a goal midway through the period for what turned out to be the 3-1 final.

“In the back half of that game, the wheels just feel off the cart for us,” Maurice said in praising the 30-save performance from Daniil Tarasov. “We didn’t have much we could do and he was great. So, that’s a great sign for us.”

Evan Rodrigues opened the scoring Thursday 1:59 in and the Panthers were buzzing.

Only it did not take long for the Devils to get on their game as they came hard at backup Tarasov before Jack Hughes tied it in the second on a power play chance.

New Jersey pushed the pace of play throughout, and with the Panthers not able to sustain much in the offensive zone, it was a night for the Devils (3-1) to celebrate.

“We don’t, in our history, have a different between our home and road games,’’ Maurice said. “We do right now. If we played that game at home tonight, we would have got beat. I don’t think the venue changes the outcome.’’

ON DECK: GAME No. 7

FLORIDA PANTHERS at BUFFALO SABRES 

• When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
• Where: Key Bank Center, Buffalo
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WPTV 5/WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Panthers Won 3-1
• This Season — At Buffalo: Saturday; Jan 12. At Florida: Feb 2; Feb. 27.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 60-46-8, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Boston Bruins, 7:30 (ESPN)