5 TAKEAWAYS: Penguins 4, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. -Even with several players out of the lineup, the Florida Panthers feel they played well enough to win in a tough 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at FLA Live Arena on Thursday.
Playing down a man with just 17 skaters against the Penguins, the Panthers are currently missing Matthew Tkachuk (illness), Anton Lundell (upper body), Chris Tierney (upper body), Colin White (upper body), Radko Gudas (upper body) and Patric Hornqvist (upper body).
With the loss, Florida now sits at 14-13-4 in the standings.
"It's tough losing guys, especially important players on the team," said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, who just came back from an illness. "It is what it is. We have to battle through it."
For a quick recap of the game, click
HERE
.
To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. LOMBERG OPENS IT UP

Even with some cars in the shop, the Panthers still had a Lomberghini in the lineup.
Opening the scoring against the Penguins, Ryan Lomberg pounced on a rebound after a shot from Eric Staal and send the puck past Tristan Jarry to make it 1-0 at 5:30 of the first period.

"They got in and got on the forecheck and had their game going," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "The first two shifts we had off the bench were not good. We were behind it, and then their line came out and got us right. They had really good leadership and style of play."
In addition to bringing a seemingly endless supply of energy to the ice and bench each and every game, Lomberg has also recorded seven points (four goals, three assists) this season. Against the Penguins, he also posted three shots on goal and one hit over 14:37 of ice time.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, no line generated more 5-on-5 shot attempts against Pittsburgh than the trio of Lomberg, Staal and Nick Cousins, who combined for 16 shot attempts over 11:28 of ice time.
"For a lot of the game, the effort was there," Lomberg said. "We played the right way for the majority of the game, but without the win we've obviously still got work to do."

2. REINHART'S BLAST

Late in the third period, Sam Reinhart provided the Panthers with a spark.
Trimming the deficit to just a single goal, he flew into the offensive zone, teed up an incredibly slick cross-ice pass from Verhaeghe and blasted a blistering one-timer past Jarry to make it 3-2 at 10:14.

"He made a great shot," Verhaeghe said.
His ninth goal of the season, Reinhart has now touched the twine in back-to-back games. Producing at nearly a point-per-game pace over the past month, he's registered 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) over a very productive 16-game stretch dating back Nov. 15.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Reinhart notched three scoring chances against Pittsburgh.

3. JARRY IN THE ZONE

Jarry's teammates will probably be picking up his tab for a while after this game.
The only thing keeping the Panthers from pulling away at times throughout the contest, the Penguins goalie made 32 saves, including stopping all 18 shots he saw in the second period.
"He's a good goalie and he played well," Verhaeghe said. "We still need to do a better job generating a little more and getting pucks to the net and getting some higher-quality looks."
Even when the attempts against him were high-quality, Jarry came up with a big save most of the time. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, he turned aside 10 of the 11 high-danger shots he faced.
On an incredible run, Jarry extended his personal point streak to 12 games with the win over the Panthers. Owning a 10-0-2 record in that span, he's first Penguins goaltender to string together a point streak that long since Marc-Andre Fleury went on a 14-game streak back in 2010-11.
"He was good," Lomberg said. "Like every goalie in the league, they can make saves when they see pucks. It's too late now, but we've got to do a better job of getting to the net."

4. BOBROVSKY HEATS UP

Sergei Bobrovsky stood on his head once again.
Stopping 35 of 38 shots against the Penguins, he denied all 30 shots he saw at even strength.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, he also made 10 high-danger saves.
"It's not surprise to us," Lomberg said of Bobrovsky's performance. "He's always one of the hardest workers and he makes amazing saves in practice. From the outside looking in he's playing some good hockey, but for us in this room we know that. We expect that from him. He's more than capable. We've got to get a better result for him because he deserves better."
Starting each of the last five games, Bobrovsky has continually put the Panthers in a position to win during that stretch. Over those five games, he's posted a 2-3-0 record while stopping 137 of 149 shots for a .919 save percentage. In that same span, his save percentage at 5-on-5 is .936.
"Both guys tonight made great saves," Maurice said.

5. SPECIAL TEAMS BATTLE

The Penguins rode their special teams to victory against the Panthers.
In addition to going 2-for-3 on the power play, the Penguins also went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 1-1 just 4:17 into the second period.
"I think they definitely won that battle," Verhaeghe said. "One shorthanded and [two] on the power play, and that was definitely the difference. At 5-on-5 I think we controlled a lot of the play, but special teams wins and loses games in the NHL."
With the "puck luck" going only the other way, both goals the Penguins scored against the Panthers on the power play came on shots where the puck deflected off a player around the net.
Even without Tkachuk, Florida led 17-11 in high-danger shot attempts at 5-on-5.
"At 5-on-5 I think they played their butts off," Maurice said. "Short a guy up front, and it was a sprint game, so there was no way to play that except full out. I thought we did that and were a pretty good 5-on-5 team tonight."