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      8/1/20 Post Game Interviews

      If Sergei Bobrovsky continues to play like this, the Florida Panthers will be just fine.

      Keeping the Panthers within striking distance until the final buzzer, Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 28 shots in a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday afternoon.

      "Overall, I think it was a pretty good game," said Bobrovsky, who is in his first season with Florida. "It's a long series. It's best of five. We have to build up from it. We know the Islanders like those types of games - tight defensively, 2-1 is their score… We're going to have a couple meetings coming up in the [next] two days. The coaches will make some adjustments and we'll get back to work."

      Jean-Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring for the Islanders in Game 1, slipping behind Florida's defenders before taking a centering pass from Derick Brassard and sending a shot just past Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 12:00 of the first period.

      "It was a tough goal," Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said. "We lost a little momentum at that point. We're still in a decent place. I didn't mind our first period."

      In the second period, the Islanders doubled their lead when a shot from Anthony Beauvillier on the power play appeared to just clip the stake of a defender before it slid under the pad of Bobrovsky and into the back of the net make it 2-0 at 3:39.

      "Coming into today's series, today's game, it's kind of like what we expected," Quenneville said. "It was tight, not a lot of scoring chances, although there might have been more than we anticipated, both ways. But you've got to expect a low-scoring game and be patient. Find a way to fight through it."

      Giving the Panthers something to build off of, Jonathan Huberdeau squeaked a shot through Semyon Varlamov's pads to cut New York's lead in half with a goal that made it 2-1 just 22 seconds after the puck had dropped in the third period.

      Huberdeau's goal was the fastest to start a period in the postseason in franchise history, just edging out Stephen Weiss' previous record of 23 seconds from 2012.

      The Panthers will attempt to even up the series in Game 2 next Tuesday at noon.

      "I think we got better once the game went on," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "The second, third period were good. We were putting a lot of pressure on them. Obviously, Game 2 starts from 0-0.

      "We've got to keep doing that, what we did in the second half of the game. [If we] keep getting better, keep building on that, we should be fine. We're really excited… Not the result we wanted, but we're going to get better from this."

      Here are five takeaways from Saturday's loss in Toronto…

      1. STUCK IN THE BOX

      Penalties put the Panthers behind the eight ball early this afternoon.

      Less than six minutes after the puck had dropped, they had already been flagged for three infractions: Frank Vatrano for tripping at 1:29 (an offsetting minor), Mike Hoffman for roughing at 2:43 and then Evgenii Dadonov for interference at 5:12.

      "Obviously any time you take penalties, and the amount of penalties we took in the first period at the beginning of the game, it takes a little momentum off," Barkov said. "A bunch of guys would not get on the ice and sit on the bench for a while. It's tough to get back into the game when half of the guys are playing and half of the guys are not. Penalties, we've got to be better with that."

      Florida's penalty killers were up to the challenge, however, as they managed to limit New York's power play to just three shot attempts over the 3:14 they spent on the man advantage. In that span, the Cats also held a 2-0 advantage in shots.

      "I didn't mind our start when we got through those penalties," Quenneville said

      2. HUBERDEAU STRIKES

      Huberdeau had been waiting a long time for this.

      Back in the postseason for the first time since 2016, the 27-year-old winger gave the Panthers a late spark when he cut towards the net and beat Varlamov from in front just 22 seconds into the third period to cut the deficit in half and make it 2-1.

      "That's what we wanted," Huberdeau said of striking early in the final frame. "When we went into the second intermission, we said we've got to score the next one, and that's what we did early in the third. It was good for the team. After that, I think we pushed really hard. We just didn't find the back of the net."

      A 2020 NHL All-Star, Huberdeau led Florida and ranked 10th in the NHL with 78 points (23 goals, 55 assists) in 69 games during the regular season. He also led the team in multi-point performances, including four separate four-point contests.

      3. BOBROVSKY ON THE BALL

      From the moment the puck dropped, you could tell Bobrovsky was in the zone.

      In turning aside 26 shots - including several highlight-reel saves - the 31-year-old goaltender put the Panthers in position to come away with the win in Game 1.

      "He had a great game," Quenneville said. "I thought he made several key saves all alone at times, in tight. He looked quick. He gave us a chance to get something out of today's game. I thought we did a lot of good things ourselves as well."

      Bobrovsky's biggest stop of the game was when he slid across the crease to deny Brock Nelson's one-timer attempt with a stunning pad save late in the second period to keep Florida's deficit at a manageable 2-0 heading into the final frame.

      With Bobrovsky on top of his game, goal support will be key moving forward.

      "Bob was really good today," Huberdeau said. "He helped us keep it being down by one goal in the third. We pushed, but we didn't get the goal… He's going to be good the whole series. We just have to put the puck in the net."

      4. COMING ON LATE

      The Panthers shook off a slow start to finish strong.

      After mustering just 12 shot attempts in the first period, they did a much better job of breaking through New York's stingy defense over the final 40 minutes. In the second period alone, they racked up 24 shot attempts and 14 shots on goal. Quenneville credited the positive progression to increased possession.

      "We started having the puck more," Quenneville said. "I thought we had good movement at the top with our defensemen involved in the cycles as well. A couple good long shifts in their end and got the momentum going in our way."

      Over the final two periods, the Panthers owned a 19-17 advantage in shots.

      "The second half of the game we were a good team," Huberdeau. "I think we've just got to keep doing that. We've got two days until Game 2 and need to come back as hard as we finished."

      5. BACK-TO-BACK

      There's still a lot of hockey left to be played.

      With one game now in the books, the Panthers will have two days of practice to make their adjustments before opening up a critical back-to-back set against the Islanders on Tuesday. Both games of the back-to-back are slated to start at noon.

      Despite the result in Game 1, Quenneville sees a lot of good things to build on.

      "We did what we wanted to do in a lot of ways," Quenneville said. "We're in a tough spot, but let's be excited about going into the next game."

      Stay tuned to @FlaPanthers on Twitter for practice updates in the coming days.