Panthers Falter, Suffer Two-Game Sweep to Devils with 6-2 loss

The Florida Panthers uncharacteristically crumbled after a slew of power play goals from the New Jersey Devils dug them into a hole.

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers, yet again, could not find a way to get things going against the New Jersey Devils.

Not even the return of Sam Bennett to the lineup could save them from a sweep in the two-game set the two squads played against each other on Tuesday and Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena.

On Thursday, the Panthers gave up four unanswered goals after their penalty kill crumbled in the second period.

Just two games removed from a seven-game winning streak, Florida looks to be in somewhat dire straights.

After a strong start to the season, Florida’s penalty kill gave up two second-period goals — one to Dawson Mercer just 1:11 after Sam Reinhart tied the game up at two, and another to Stefan Noesen seconds after a controversial call on Niko Mikkola — and the rest of the team could not dig out of the hole.

Mikkola was called for interference with 41 seconds to go when Jack Hughes was pressing in on him. Hughes lost his edge wile Mikkola stood his ground and he was tagged with the call.

Noesen banged home a one-timer from the slot off of a feed from Nico Hischier with 11 seconds to go in the second period for the back breaker.

Jesper Bratt snuck a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky 3:50 into the third period to put the game well out of reach.

There was a lot that went into Florida’s undoing.

For one, Bobrovsky had an uncharacteristically bad night, stopping just 23 of the 28 shots he faced.

The team in front of him did not do him many favors, though.

The Panthers played the game on their terms to start — even after a goal from Noesen 10:01 into the game put them down early — playing them tight and slowing them down, but as soon as things got tough they unraveled.

That’s the way it goes sometimes in an 82-game season, but for those to stack up — especially in a two-game set that was designed to bring a playoff-like atmosphere — it could get concerning.

Jesper Boqvist provided the first bit of pushback, slipping past a Devils defender with a backhand deke and slipping the puck back onto his forehand and past Jake Allen to tie the game 2:12 later against his former team.

Bratt gave New Jersey the lead back with two seconds to go with a power play marker, beating Bobrovsky top shelf to send the Devils into the break with the momentum.

Reinhart tied things back up 4:45 into the third period, rifling a wrist shot past Allen to tie the game back and extend his personal point streak to nine games.

But after things started to unravel from there, that was it for the Panthers.

Thursday marked the first time all season Florida allowed multiple power play goals in a game, albeit losing defensemen in Mikkola and Gustav Forsling on two of those three kills did not do any favors, but that was not the most glaring issue.

New Jersey controlled the puck for long stretches of times, and uncharacteristically, the Panthers did not do much to apply pressure to them.

It is up to the Panthers to patch up those mistakes.

Florida will have a chance to prove itself in a similar atmosphere on arguably a larger stage during its next two-game set coming up.

The NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets will be taking their 15-2-0 record into Sunrise to play the Panthers on Saturday before the two squads head up to Winnipeg on Tuesday for the back half of a home-and-home.

Winnipeg lost just its second game of the season on Thursday, falling 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and will be coming out hungry. They have yet to lose consecutive games this season.