Panthers lose to Kraken, fail to set record for home wins to start season

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers failed to set the NHL record for consecutive home wins to start a season when they lost 4-1 to the Seattle Kraken at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.

The Panthers won their first 11, tying the 1963-64 Chicago Black Hawks.
"We all know what was at stake tonight, but it's behind us now and we've just got to look forward to the next game," Florida forward Owen Tippett said.
Jordan Eberle scored twice for the Kraken (7-13-1), and Chris Driedger made 33 saves against his former team.

Driedger, who was selected by Seattle in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft on July 21 after being exposed by Florida, said he'd been told a couple of weeks ago he'd start this game against the Panthers.
"Definitely no animosity," said Driedger, who played two seasons for the Panthers (2019-21). "It's just good to see those guys. Honestly it was a bit of a challenge trying to just keep my head in the game. And it's so familiar being in this barn. Just seeing those guys on the other side of the ice is a bit different. But at the end of the day, I just need to focus. Had some family at the game too, and it was a great night to just go out there, feel good and get a win."
Patric Hornqvist scored, and Spencer Knight made 23 saves for Florida (14-4-3), which was coming off a 4-3 loss at the Washington Capitals on Friday. Joe Thornton had an assist to pass Paul Coffey for sole possession of 13th place on the NHL scoring list with 1,352 points.
The Panthers had won their previous 15 regular-season home games dating to last season, last losing 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes on April 22. Driedger was the starter two days when the Panthers defeated the Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime.
"They play hard every night and we knew that coming in," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "We've done so much at home where we're kind of rolling wave after wave of attack. Tonight we had a hard time generating much momentum. Credit to them, they played very tight."
Seattle, which has won three of four, lost 3-0 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.
"We won start to finish tonight and we really needed to do that, especially in this building against this team," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "They hadn't lost in this building yet this year, so it was a good 60-minute performance for us."
Eberle gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 2:22 of the first period when he redirected Joonas Donskoi's centering pass on the power play.
Hornqvist tied it 1-1 at 6:59 when he tipped MacKenzie Weegar's point shot.
Ryan Donato gave Seattle a 2-1 lead at 10:40 when he tipped Jamie Oleksiak's shot from the high slot.

Eberle made it 3-1 at 5:57 of the third period with a backhand on a rebound after a turnover in the Florida zone.
Oleksiak scored into an empty net at 16:35 for the 4-1 final.
"There was a lot of buzz coming back into this building, felt really good to get that one," Driedger said. "Pretty happy with that performance with our group. That's about as good as I've seen our group play, so hats off to them."
The game started a four-game homestand for the Panthers, who next face the Capitals on Tuesday.
"Now we've just got to start another streak," Thornton said. "It was a good streak, but on Tuesday we've got to try to start another one."
NOTES: The one goal was a season low for the Panthers. They had outscored opponents 50-22 at home this season. … Thornton has scored 426 goals and has 1,106 assists in 1,691 games. He needs one point to tie Mark Recchi for 12th in points. … Defenseman Will Borgen played 13:51 in his Kraken debut. He had one shot on goal and five blocked shots. … Eberle played his 800th NHL game.