5 Takeaways: Panthers Point Streak Snapped in Loss to Canucks

VANCOUVER - Just 24 hours after piecing together one of their best efforts of the season in a dominating 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers, the Florida Panthers saw their eight-game point streak end abruptly with a 7-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Monday night at Rogers Arena.

"We went completely from the best game of the season to probably the worst," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "They got a couple lucky bounces at the beginning of the period. At the beginning of the first period, it was 2-0, 3-0 before we could even start playing. It's tough to come back in this league, especially against that team. We just need to move forward."
After Brandon Sutter scored 1:14 into the game, Tim Schaller and Jake Virtanen followed suit at 4:25 and 6:18, respectively, to put the Canucks up 3-0 and send goaltender Sam Montembeault to the bench. From there, Brian Boyle briefly cut Florida's deficit down to 3-1 with a goal at 8:09.
At 9:35, J.T. Miller beat Sergei Bobrovsky, who had only recently entered the game in relief of Montembeault, to extend Vancouver's lead to 4-1. At 19:06, Josh Leivo scored to make it 5-1.
The five goals were the most allowed by the Panthers in a period this season.
"They were the more desperate team by a wide margin tonight right off the bat," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's tough to catch up from down 3-0 basically from the drop of the puck."
Montembeault returned to the net to start the second period and finished with 25 saves.
A little past the midway point of the middle frame, Mike Hoffman blasted a one-timer past Thachter Demko on the power play to trim the deficit down to 5-2 at 12:58. But with just 29 seconds left in the period, Miller put the Canucks up 6-2 with his second goal of the night.
Demko finished with 29 saves on 31 shots.
"They executed their game plan, obviously, better than us," Hoffman said. "They kept it simple, got pucks in deep and had a really strong forecheck. They made it tough on us all around. Off of that, they created chances and were able to put a few in our net."
At 13:20 of the third period, Brock Boeser extended Vancouver's lead to 7-2.
"We had a decent stretch of getting points here, but that was definitely a correction that gets your attention," Quenneville said. "You can't be happy about something like that. It was one of those frustrating games where nothing happened."
Here are five takeaways from Monday's loss in Vancouver…

1. BOYLE BAGS ANOTHER

Boyle is already starting to carve out a nice role for himself with the Panthers.
After scoring his first goal of the season on Sunday in Edmonton, the 34-year-old veteran was back at it again tonight, collecting a pass from Jayce Hawryluk before burying a far-side snipe from the center of the right circle to trim Florida's deficit to 3-1 at 8:09 of the first period.

Joining the Panthers on a one-year contract on Oct. 20, Boyle has spent time centering both the second and third lines in the four games he's played in thus far. In addition to his two goals, he's also registered an assist, eight hits and seven blocks, while winning 55 percent of his faceoffs.
In Vancouver, he fired off a team-high four shots and went 9-for-15 (60 percent) in the circle.

2. A HELPER FOR HAWRYLUK

If you look at both of Boyle's goals this season, each of them has started with Hawryluk.
Just as it was yesterday against the Oilers, the 23-year-old used his aggressiveness tonight to force a turnover that would quickly lead to a score. As Leivo looked to clear the puck out of his own zone from below the blue line, Hawryluk came from behind and stripped him of the rubber.
After that, he simply flipped the puck up ahead to Boyle for the goal.
With another assist tonight, Hawryluk now has one goal and two assists in his last two games.

3. BLOWING UP A BOTTLE

Hoffman might have to issue an apology to Gatorade after this goal.
With the Panthers on the power play, the 29-year-old sniper received a pass from Keith Yandle and blasted a blistering one-timer from the right circle that flew into the back of the net and blew up Demko's water bottle to cut Florida's deficit down a bit to 5-2 at 12:58 of the second period.
"It was nice to kind of get our power play going," Hoffman said. "It was a little unfortunate that it wasn't more meaningful in a game like this."

After posting a team-leading and career-best 36 goals in 2018-19, Hoffman now sits in a tie with Evgenii Dadonov for the most goals on the team this season with six. He also paces the club in shots (34) and power-play goals (3), and is tied with Yandle for the most power-play points (4).

4. LOOKING BACK AT THE STREAK

Although the point streak is no more, Florida's recent run is definitely worth revisiting.
Beginning with a shootout loss in Buffalo on Oct. 11, the Panthers picked up points in eight straight games, posting a 4-0-4 record leading up to tonight's loss. In that span, they were one of the best offensive teams in the league, lighting the lamp to the tune of 3.88 goals per game.
"For the most part, we found ways to get points in some tough buildings on the road against teams off to decent starts," Quenneville said of the streak. "I thought we were heading in the right direction. With something like [tonight's loss], every game's a whole new challenge."
Of the eight teams they faced during that stretch, seven are currently in a playoff spot.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov each posted 10 points during the streak, with all 10 of Barkov's points coming in the form of assists. Huberdeau and Dadonov each potted five goals, while MacKenzie Weegar broke out to lead Florida's blueliners in goals (2) and points (7).
"We played really good hockey in this little stretch," Barkov said. "We just need to keep going. Sometimes you're going to have these games. Of course, it's not acceptable, but we're going to move forward. We're a really good team. We have a good thing going on here."

5. CLOSING THINGS OUT IN COLORADO

The Panthers will look to start a new point streak when they close out their four-game road trip against the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Wednesday night.
This will be the second and final meeting between the two clubs. In their first matchup, Nathan MacKinnon scored 3:30 into overtime to give the Avalanche a 5-4 win in Sunrise on Oct. 18.
"That's all you need to do," Barkov said of moving on after tonight's loss. "Right now, the game is over, and you can't really do anything about it. We know we're going to play against another really good team in two days. We need to get ready. It starts now."
Florida owns a 3-2-3 record on the road this season.