Panthers frustrated by Game 3 OT loss in Eastern Final

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers were understandably disappointed after their 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.

Coach Paul Maurice wanted the Panthers to be a little angry, too, considering they dominated much of the play and stormed back from a two-goal deficit in the third period before finding a way to lose in overtime for the second straight game when Rangers forward Alex Wennberg scored on a deflection at 5:35.

“Sometimes you want to keep the growl,” Maurice said. “A lot of times in the playoffs it’s about making sure that you keep that energy full and cut off your losses. That you let it go. Then there’s times you want to keep it and eat and let it burn for a while and find a different kind of energy source.”

Trailing 2-1 in the best-of-7 series after losing consecutive games for the first time in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, Florida will have two days to stew on Game 3 before needing to move beyond it and get a win in Game 4 at home on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

There was a lot for the Panthers to like about how they played Sunday. Florida controlled the puck and forced New York to play in its defensive zone for much of the afternoon. The Panthers outshot the Rangers 37-23, had a whopping 108-43 advantage in shot attempts, scored twice on the power play, and put up four goals on Igor Shesterkin, who had allowed that many only once previously this postseason.

But the Panthers also made some costly mistakes that the Rangers were able to capitalize on with their offensive skill to build a 4-2 lead through two periods. A few of those mistakes in particular led to two goals from Alexis Lafreniere off the rush and a short-handed goal from Barclay Goodrow.

“I think any time you lose a close one like that, it’s obviously frustrating,” said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who scored both power-play goals. “You can say we dominated, but then you look at the mistakes that led to their goals. So, there’s areas for improvement, for sure.”

Following a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2 in New York on Friday, Florida jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a backhand from Reinhart during a power play 2:50 into the game. The Panthers then pressured the Rangers into repeated turnovers and had them on their heels for the next few minutes until a pass from Vincent Trocheck sprung Lafreniere, who got behind the defense and roofed a backhand over goalie Sergei Bobrovsky's glove to tie it 1-1 at 7:17.

The Rangers struck again 25 seconds later to take a 2-1 lead on a deflection from Goodrow before Reinhart answered with his second power-play goal at 14:46 to tie it 2-2.

Florida similarly appeared in control for much of the second period until Lafreniere weaved through its defense and lifted another backhand past Bobrovsky’s glove to give New York a 3-2 lead at 15:23.

“Maybe that’s the thing when you have the puck a lot in the offensive zone, you think, ‘OK, we’ve had the puck so much that maybe they’re not going to go on the offense now,’ and then they go,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “But there’s a reason they’re a good team, so we’ve got to be aware of that.”

Then, while on a four-minute power play because of simultaneous minors assessed to Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba for slashing and elbowing, the Panthers were passive in retrieving a clear into their zone, allowing Trocheck to set up Goodrow for a one-timer from the left circle that beat Bobrovsky over his left shoulder to make it 4-2 at 18:14 of the second.

Despite that disheartening goal, the Panthers regrouped during the intermission and, with Maurice providing a spark by shuffling his line combinations, stormed back to tie it 4-4 on goals from Barkov and defenseman Gustav Forsling. Moved up from the second line to play with Barkov and Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe threw the puck in front to Barkov, who deflected it in to trim Florida’s deficit to 4-3 at 5:04.

Shortly after, Forsling beat Shesterkin glove side from the left circle to tie it 4-4 at 6:58. The Panthers outshot the Rangers 13-4 and had a 41-11 advantage in shot attempts in the third period. They were unable to put the go-ahead goal past Shesterkin, though, leaving them in position to lose in overtime again.

“It felt like at the end we had the puck a lot and had some good chances,” forward Anton Lundell said. “Just weren’t able to score there, but a good battle. We’re going to learn and start focusing on the next game.”

Showing some of the grumpiness Maurice seemed to be looking for from his players, Reinhart wasn’t interested in talking about his two power-play goals after the game. His mind was more on the Panthers’ breakdowns.

“I think defense is always our first instinct,” Reinhart said. “That’s where our focus is, and the rest usually solves itself.”

The Panthers will take the night to be annoyed that they’ve played well enough to be leading the series and then look at what they need to do better to tie the series on Tuesday.

“We’ll take the parts of the game that we like a lot and try to manufacture more of that,” Maurice said. “Keep some perspective onto the final score in the last two overtime games: one very tight and tonight was a little more action. So, count it for what it is and make sure we understand the accounting of the series is 2-1 and get after it.”