5 TAKEAWAYS: Rangers 4, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers suffered a setback in their push for a playoff spot after closing out their homestand with a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
Falling to 36-30-7, the Panthers trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by three points for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Additionally, they also trail the New York Islanders by four points for the first wild-card spot, but also have a key game in hand.
"Everybody cares so much in this locker room," Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg said. "Everybody takes it personally when we lose games, especially big ones. We all love each other, and we all want to win these games, especially at this time of the year."
For a quick recap of the game, click
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To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. HOT START

The Panthers certainly weren't thrown off by tonight's early puck drop.
Hitting the ground running, they came out flying against the Rangers. In addition to taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, they also owned lopsided advantages over New York in shots on goal (12-3), shot attempts (24-7), scoring chances (11-1) and high-danger shot attempts (5-0).
From 3:32 to 15:33, the Panthers didn't surrender a single shot on goal.

Even when the Rangers were on the man advantage, the Panthers stood their ground. Over the course of New York's two power plays in the first period, Florida's penalty kill surrendered just three shot attempts and no scoring chances, while also firing off one shot the other direction.
"The energy was right," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the team's hot start. "They came out right. Good net front goals on the first two, with good traffic and screens."

2. RANGERS PUSH BACK

Held in check in the first period, the Rangers pushed back in the second.
After Kaapo Kakko crashed the net and got New York on the board to make it 2-1 at 8:50, Alexis Lafrenière followed suit later in the period when he made a shifty move to get around a defender before beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a backhander to even things up 2-2 at 18:15.
Limited to just one scoring chance in the first period, New York recorded 17 in the second.
"We expected them to bounce back after the first period there, and they did," Lomberg said. "On to the next one. We can't hang out heads here. We've got to get back into the win column."
With the Panthers doing a good job of keeping the likes of Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin relatively in check, the "Kid Line" of Kakko, Lafrenière and Filip Chytil did most of the damage for the Rangers. Joining Kakko and Lafrenière on the scoresheet, Chytil scored in the third period.
Overall, the Rangers led 7-2 in shots and 3-0 in goals when that line was deployed at 5-on-5.

3. OUT OF THE GARAGE

The Lomberghini went zero to sixty real quick.
Peeling out of the garage and onto the ice, Lomberg doubled the lead for the Panthers in the first period when he one-timed a quick shot past Jaroslav Halak, who was the victim of a screen from Eric Staal, from the far side of the left circle to make it 2-0 at 14:46 of the first period.
With the goal, Lomberg matched the career-high 18 points he tallied in 2021-22.

"There's no point of hanging our heads," Lomberg said of the loss. "We know what we've capable of. A tough pill to swallow, but we've got to swallow it and move on."
In terms of possession numbers, the third line of Lomberg, Staal and Nick Cousins was one of the most-effective trios for the Panthers against New York. When they were on the ice at 5-on-5, Florida led 11-5 in shot attempts, 8-3 in shots on goal and 6-3 in scoring chances.
Always throwing the body, Lomberg has dished out at least three hits in eight of his last 10 games.

4. BARKOV'S STREAK

The points keep on coming for Aleksander Barkov.
Finding the back of the net twice against the Rangers, the captain increased his point streak to 10 games. Just one game shy of the longest streak of his career, he cracked the scoresheet in 11 straight games just a couple months ago on a run from Jan. 10-28.

"You hate losing, especially at this time and with the situation we are right now," Barkov said. "Thankfully we have a new game in less than 48 hours."
During his 10-game streak, Barkov has produced 16 points (four goals, 12 assists). Per NHL stats, Pavel Bure is the only player to produce more than two point streaks of at least 10 games in franchise history. The Hall of Famer achieved the feat three times between 1999 and 2001.
Second on the Panthers in scoring despite missing a chunk of time due to injuries and illness, Barkov has recorded 66 points (20 goals, 46 assists) in 59 games. With his two strikes against New York, the 27-year-old superstar reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth straight season.

5. THE RACE CONTINUES

The Panthers know they need to dust themselves off quickly.
With their loss to the Rangers and the Penguins beating the Washington Capitals on a late from Evgeni Malkin, the Panthers now reside three points out of a playoff spot with nine games left.
Hitting the road, the Panthers will look to make up that ground in the standings during their upcoming four-game trek that begins with a matchup on Monday in Ottawa. After that, they'll visit Toronto and Montreal on back-to-back nights on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Wrapping things up, they'll close out their trip at Columbus on Saturday.
"We know what we're up against," Lomberg said. "Ball is in our court. We put ourselves in a good position to make a run of it. It's on us, and I'm looking forward to it with these guys."
\All advanced statistics courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com*