Florida Panthers
Tarasov, Florida Panthers Get a Little Payback on Colorado Avalanche
SUNRISE — The last time the Panthers played the Avalanche, Florida was on the second half of a back-to-back beating the Mammoth in Utah before flying into Denver.
Daniil Tarasov drew the short end of that stick, giving up six goals in a game Paul Maurice muttered was not worth watching again.
Well, the Panthers got a little payback for that quirk in the schedule on Sunday.
Colorado strolled into town after rallying for a pretty impressive win over the Hurricanes on Saturday in Raleigh.
The Avalanche had won 10 straight with points in its past 13 before facing Tarasov and the Panthers once again.
Florida had the upper hand when it came to rest, and took full advantage.
Tarasov only allowed a single goal to the highest-scoring team in the NHL — and it was a deflection off a skate — and the Panthers snapped that winning streak with a 2-1 win.
Did the Panthers feel for the Avalanche?
Perhaps a little.
Colorado did, after all, have to play at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Raleigh before rallying to beat a high-end Carolina team before packing up to fly to Fort Lauderdale.
“That’s a diabolical back-to-back,” said Aaron Ekblad, who scored what would be the game-winner with a slap shot late in the second. “That’s crazy. We had the same kind of thing, only they had less time. But yeah, big game for us. Huge we were able to come out with it.’’
Florida handed Colorado just its third regulation loss of the season, the Avs’ last coming a month prior on Long Island.
Colorado is setting all kinds of early-season NHL records but Sunday, at least, the Panthers showed the Avs that the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions can still bring it.
Florida played about as perfect a game as one could hope for with Tarasov coming up with one big save after another including two on Nathan MacKinnon in the third.
“Not just for the points, but that was a big, big game for us,’’ Maurice said. “Losing Seth, and you’re playing the most dynamic team in the league, the goalie is always going to be an important player in that.”
Colorado had/is off to a historical pace, its third regulation loss the latest by an NHL team this late into a season.
Devon Toews was out Sunday after being hurt in Carolina before captain Gabriel Landeskog was hurt crashing into the cage early in the second.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar said both players could miss significant time, something the Panthers were certainly not rooting for, yet understood better than anyone.
Florida played Sunday without Seth Jones, the latest Panthers player to get hurt after potentially cracking his collarbone off a clearing chance in Friday’s Winter Classic in Miami.
Maurice said Jones is ‘day-to-day,’ but it sounds like their star defenseman will be out for a minute, perhaps as long as a month depending on what the doctor says today.
Colorado has benefited from being immune to the injury bug every team in the NHL has been going through.
The good part about Landeskog going down was the injury was nothing structural after the future Hall of Famer has had serious left knee injuries in the past.
Bednar said it was ‘upper body’ after their captain lost an edge and went crashing full-speed into the cage.
Could be a rib injury, something Bednar said would keep the veteran out of the lineup for a bit.
For the Panthers, however, Sunday was a game in which they came to play and got a much-needed big win.
“We kept our structure, played really good in our own zone,’’ said Tarasov, who lost 6-2 to the Avalanche in Colorado on Dec. 12 but made 27 saves on Sunday.
“We created some offense and it was enough with two goals tonight.”
Florida had lost three of four coming into the night including a sloppy 5-1 loss to the Rangers in Miami’s Winter Classic spectacular.
The Panthers go into the second half of the season 22-16-3, a point out of the final wild card spot.
“It was a pretty sound all-around game. We battled hard all night and shut it down when we needed to,” said Sam Bennett, who extended his scoring streak to nine games with the game’s opening goal. “It was a good effort, all around.’’
ON DECK: GAME No. 42
FLORIDA PANTHERS at TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
- When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
- National TV: TNT/truTV
- National Streaming: HBO Max
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Season Series (Leafs Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Leafs 4, Panthers 1 (Dec. 2); Feb . 26. At Toronto: Tuesday; April 11
- Last Regular Season: Panthers Won 3-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Toronto leads 52-40-7, 7 ties
- Last Postseason: Florida d. Toronto 4-3
- All-time Postseason (Panthers Lead 2-0): Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS); Panthers d. Toronto 4-3 (2025 ECS)
- Up Next: Thursday at Montreal Canadiens, 7
