The Florida Panthers surrendered three goals in a 3:04 span of the third period to turn a close game into an ugly 7-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.
Down 4-3 at the start of third, the Cats kept within striking distance until Jacob Trouba snuck in to pot a rebound after Cutter Gauthier redirected Mason McTavish’s shot from the right point on Sergei Bobrovsky at the 11:23 mark. The assist was Gauthier’s fourth point of the night. More on him in a bit.
The deficit grew to two 1:38 later when Nikita Nesterenko threw the puck towards the cage after taking a pass from Troy Terry and garbageman extraordinaire Chris Kreider deflected it by Bobrovsky.
Jansen Harkins would complete the torrid run with an unassisted goal at 14:47, courtesy of a Donovan Sebrango turnover.
The Cats collapse short-circuited what was a pretty fun late night watch as the Panthers did their best to keep up with the speedy Ducks and the aforementioned Gauthier, who strafed Bobrovsky for three goals, including two on the power play, in the first 35:36 of action to register the first hat trick of his career.
After falling behind 3:09 into the first when Gauthier beat Bobrovksy on a breakaway, Florida answered back with a breakaway goal of their own that saw Brad Marchand claim a pass from Jeff Petry along the right boards and move in on Lukas Dostal before roofing his shot at 10:14 to equalize.
With Carter Verhaeghe off for slashing, Gauthier belted a cross-ice pass from Terry into the net at 15:17 to give the Ducks the lead back.
The Panthers would forge ahead in the second period with Evan Rodrigues doing the heavy lifting.
Gustav Forsling and Mackie Samsokevich would combine to send eRod in alone on Dostal and he whipped a wrister home from the slot to knot the score at 5:21.
Taking a bounce pass off the end boards from Sam Bennett, Rodrigues would set up Eetu Luostarinen for a goalmouth put-away with a cheeky little backhand pass at 10:37 after Marchand drew a holding penalty on Alex Killorn.
The lead didn’t last long as Gauthier bagged his third of the night at 15:36 with another power-play one-timer, with the assists going to Jackson LaCombe and Leo Carlsson. Carlsson also drew the lone helper on Gauthier’s earlier breakaway goal.
Nesterenko would notch the eventual game-winner 1:43 later, depositing a loose puck from the side of the net after Bobrvosky made saves on Killorn and Ryan Poehling.
Too much Gauthier, too many penalties, too much speed on the Anaheim side, and not the best of Bobrovsky conspired to drop the Cats to 1-5 on the road. The game was closer than the final score indicated (it was a one-goal game with 8:18 remaining after all), but the better team ended up pulling away and winning. The Panthers had a golden opportunity to tie things up early in the third when Carlsson received a a five-minute major and game-misconduct, but they couldn’t convert. Here’s hoping the Cats have adjusted to being on the left coast and can tighten back up when they take on the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
The Five Hole
- Brad Marchand scored his team-leading seventh goal and has posted at least a point (4G/3A) in his last five outings. Marchand has only been held off the score sheet twice this season, by Chicago and Buffalo.
- Evan Rodrigues is fourth on the team in scoring after recording his first multipoint performance of the campaign. In addition to his goal and assist, Rodrigues was credited with three hits.
- By virtue of springing Rodrigues for his breakaway goal, Mackie Samoskevich took over the team lead in assists with seven. The second-year man is up to nine points now.
- Sergei Bobrovsky gave up a season-high seven goals on 32 shots, dropping his record to 6-4 and raising his GAA to 2.82.
- After a slow start offensively, Eetu Luostarinen has put up a point in five of the last six games. Luostarinen matched A.J. Greer with a game-high four hits.
Stat Card
