The Florida Panthers opened a four-game road trip with a thud, dropping a one-sided 6-2 decision to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
First Star Kaapo Kakko had a goal and an two assists and Bobby McMann, Ryan Winterton, Berkly Catton, Ben Myers and Jamie Oleksiak each contributed a goal and an assist for the Kraken, who passed the San Jose Sharks to move into the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Vinnie Hinostroza got the Panthers on the board 12:07 into the first period, fifteen seconds after Catton had given Seattle a two-goal lead.
Jesper Boqvist tapped Gustav Forsling’s head-man pass to Hinostroza, who sent Luke Kunin into the offensive zone with speed. Hinostroza blew by Adam Larsson and fired Kunin’s return pass along the ice past Joey Daccord to complete the perfectly-executed rush.
Eetu Luostarinen got the game’s fina goal with two seconds left on the clock when he backhanded the rebound of Forsling’s blast by Daccord after Mackie Samoskevich fed the defenseman near the blue line.
Much too little, much too late, as the Panthers were simply no match for a motivated Kraken squad on this night. Seattle, who played Saturday in Vancouver, was highly-efficient, beating Daniil Tarasov six times on just 25 shots to rout the jet-lagged Cats, who saw a three-game winning streak come to an unceremonius end. Florida will get today off before facing the Canucks on Tuesday.
The Five Hole
- Vinnie Hinostroza has picked up two goals and an assist in three games with the Panthers since being acquired for future considerations from the Minnesota Wild on March 6.
- Eetu Luostarinen had gone nine games without a goal before rapping in his buzzer-beater. The marker was his 25th point of the season, which is one more than he amassed last season.
- Carter Verhaeghe matched Luostarinen, Kaapo Kakko and Bobby McMann with a game-high four shots. Florida led 20-5 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Verhaeghe was on the ice.
- Mackie Samoskevich is up to 23 points after registering assists in back-to-back games. Samoskevich was the only Panthers forward to finish with a plus rating.
- In addition to his assist, Gustav Forsling was credited with one shot, two hits and two blocks in 22:11 of ice time.
Stat Card
