5 TAKEAWAYS: Late push falls short as Panthers lose to Kraken

After erasing a two-goal deficit to pull even in the second period, the Panthers surrendered a pair of goals in the third period of a 5-3 loss to the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday.
"Not our best game," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We didn't play the way we wanted to."

Lighting the lamp for the 18th time this season, Anthony Duclair broke the ice early in Seattle when his shot from the right circle, after being kicked out by Philipp Grubauer, took a fortuitous bounce off a defender and into the net to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 4:57 of the first period.
Pulling the Kraken even, Marcus Johansson, who entered the night with four goals in his career against Florida, teed up a pass from Mark Giordano in transition and blasted a shot over Sergei Bobrovsky's glove from the left circle to make it a 1-1 game five minutes into the second period.
Moments after coming up short on a 5-on-3 power play, the Kraken took their first lead of the game when Yanni Gourde sailed a shot past Bobrovsky at 10:02 to make it 2-1. Extending that lead to 3-1 in a hurry, a bouncing puck then went off Colin Blackwell and into the cage at 10:19.
"You could feel it coming from the first period on," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said of Seattle's offensive push in the middle frame. "Bob was keeping us in the game, and we didn't handle the pressure very well. We were flat a little bit again tonight."
Catching fire on the power play, which is operating at over 30% since the holiday break, the Panthers cut into their deficit just over two minutes later when Jonathan Huberdeau took a pass from Aaron Ekblad and wired home a short-side shot from the point to make it 3-2 at 12:32.
Tying the game in the blink of an eye, Huberdeau flew down the ice along the right boards, made a hard cut and sent a no-look pass to Barkov for a quick goal to make it 3-3 at 14:07.
Regaining the lead for the Kraken, Mason Appleton received a nifty cross-ice pass from Alex Wennberg and ripped a shot into the twine just 26 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3.
"Our intensity picked up there," Brunette said. "We kind of got mad and got going for a little while. It felt like we took the game over and starting to do the things we needed to do, and then we started the third period. … We had a breakdown, they scored, and we had to chase."
Looking for the game-tying goal after pulling their goaltender with just over two minutes left in regulation, the Panthers fired off a flurry of shots toward Seattle's net, but Grubauer held his ground until Calle Jarnkrok scored an empty-netter to make it 5-3 with only 19 seconds left.
Despite tonight's loss, the Panthers, who have won 10 of their last 13 games, remain in first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 28-9-5, while the Kraken, who won both of their games against Florida this season, sit at 13-24-4 after winning two of their last three games.
"They're proud," Brunette said of Seattle's play tonight. "They want to prove that they're for real and that they're better than their record. We weren't prepared for the storm that was coming."
Splitting the first four games on their five-game road trip, the Panthers will look to end their trek on a high note when they visit Winnipeg on Tuesday. When asked about the key to coming out on top in that matchup, Brunette and Barkov both pointed to the same thing: a better start.
"We just need to start better," Barkov said. "We need to get ready mentally and physically."
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's loss in Seattle…

1. DUKE STAYS HOT

The goals keep coming for Duclair.
Briefly gaining sole possession of first place on the team's goal-scoring leaderboard, the speedy forward recorded his 18th goal of the season and put the Panthers up 1-0 when his shot from the right circle bounced off a defender and back into the cage after Grubauer made the initial stop.

Picking up points with ease as of late, Duclair has cracked the scoresheet in 10 of his last 13 games. In that spectacular span, he's produced nine goals and seven assists to move into a tie for fourth place on the Panthers in scoring with 33 points (18 goals, 15 assists) in just 34 games.
Coming close on a few other scoring chances tonight, he finished with five shots on goal.

2. MORE FOR HUBY

The scoring race in the NHL is only just beginning to heat up.
Producing a goal and two assists against the Kraken - his seventh game with at least three points this season - Huberdeau moved back into a tie with Washington's Alex Ovechkin and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl for the coveted top spot on the league's scoring list with 58 points.

Earning at least one point in 11 of his last 12 games, Huberdeau, who also leads the league in assists with 42, has notched 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) during that red-hot stretch of play.
If this keeps up, the all-star winger could take home some hardware at the end of the season.

3. BARKY BURIES ONE

The captain cashed in tonight.
Moving back into a tie with Duclair for the team-lead in goals with his 18th of the season, Barkov made it a 3-3 game when he collected a no-look dish from Huberdeau and fired a shot from the high slot that hit a defender before floating over Grubauer and into the net in the second period.

Retroactively given the secondary assist on Huberdeau's goal later in the game, Barkov also hit a nice milestone with the 300th assist of his career. On the cusp of two other round numbers, the captain also sits at 199 career goals and 499 career points heading into Winnipeg on Tuesday.
A safe bet to hit those marks sooner rather than later, he's recorded 13 points (six goals, seven assists) over his last nine games.

4. EK'S DISHES

Ekblad has been teeing up teammates for a lot of goals lately.
Dishing out helpers on both Duclair and Huberdeau's tallies tonight, the top-pairing defenseman recorded his fourth multi-assist game in his last nine outings. Since that stretch began on Jan. 9, he's tied with Nashville's Roman Josi for the league-lead in assists by a defenseman with 10.
A stalwart blueliner with a penchant for points, Ekblad, at the time of this writing, ranks fifth in the NHL among defensemen in points (37), third in goals (10) and second in plus/minus (+26).
In tonight's loss, he also led all Panthers in the possession game with a 65.91 CF% at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

5. PLAYING WITH POWER

Even in defeat, the power play continues to show promise.
With Huberdeau's goal tonight, the Panthers have now found the back of the net on the power play at least once in 10 of 13 games since returning from the holiday break. Looking at the rest of the league, their 32.5% success rate with the extra attacker is second-best since Dec. 29.
When asked about that uptick in production, Barkov credited the team's hard work.
"We had that little break after Christmas and had a lot of discussions, watched a lot of video, talked about it with the coaches and as players," he said while discussing the concentrated effort to improve on the power play. "I think we have enough skill to move the puck on the power play, but it was just about getting pucks to the net. That's where you score your goals."
During that 13-game stretch, Huberdeau leads the Panthers with nine points on the power play, while Barkov and Sam Reinhart each have six points, and Ekblad has five points.