5 TAKEAWAYS: Rangers 5, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. - After falling behind 2-0, the Florida Panthers couldn't claw their way back in an eventual 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers at FLA Live Arena on Sunday.
With the loss, Florida fell to 16-18-4.
"I thought we battled hard tonight," Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. "We kept trying to push back, but they were able to get that extra one to keep us two behind. We had a good push, but it wasn't enough."
For a quick recap of the game, click
HERE
.
To read up on five key takeaways for the Cats, continue below.

1. COUSINS NETS ONE

The bottom-six continues to bring a lot of energy.
After being shut out at Carolina on Saturday, Nick Cousins gave the Panthers the spark they needed on offense against the Rangers when he beat Jaroslav Halak with a quick shot from the right circle to trim New York's lead down to 2-1 just past the midway point of the second period.

"Our team knows what we need to do to have success," Cousins said. "It's not a secret. When we get in on the forecheck and make it physical on their D, that's when we have success. When we're turning the puck over and gifting them odd-man rushes, that's never a recipe for success."
In the midst of his first season in South Florida, Cousins has notched 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 35 games. With nearly 500 games of NHL experience under his belt, the hard-nosed veteran said one of the keys for the Panthers moving forward is not lot let any frustration sink in.
"Getting frustrated isn't going to help us at all," Cousins said. "I think we just come to the rink tomorrow, have a good practice and get ready for Arizona."

2. BENNETT'S GOAL

Bennett always has a little extra jump in Sunrise.
Snapping out of a drought, the gritty forward chased down a rebound on the power play and fired a shot into the cage to trim Florida's deficit to 3-2 in the final minute of the second period.
Since the start of last season, Bennett leads the Panthers with 25 goals at home.

"It's definitely good to score and get one on the power play," said Bennett, whose goal was his second on the man advantage this season. "Our power play has been struggling a little bit, so it's good to get one there. We're more worried about the overall performance."
Second on the Panthers with 120 shots on goal this season, Bennett fired off a team-high six shots on goal against the Rangers.

3. STAAL'S SNIPE

It looks like Eric Staal will carry his strong December into January.
After producing eight points (three goals, five assists) in 14 games last month, the veteran picked up right where he left off and pulled the Panthers back to within one goal early in the third period against the Rangers when he sniped a shot past Halak to cut the deficit to 4-3.

"He's been great for us all year," Bennett said of Staal. "Playing whatever role and with whatever opportunity he gets, he's been a great leader for our group. He's played really well."
With 445 goals in his career, Staal ranks fifth among active players in goals behind Alex Ovechkin (806), Sidney Crosby (536), Steven Stamkos (498) and Evgeni Malkin (456).
Dishing out a helper against the Rangers, Staal is also one assist away from 600 in his career.

4. IN THE BOX

Paul Maurice pointed to untimely penalties following the loss to the Rangers.
"We were driving after the first period," the Panthers head coach said. "We were driving the pace of play, and then we put ourselves in the [penalty] box a few times and that was it."
Leading the NHL with 189 penalties, the Panthers know they can't afford to spend too much time in the box during the second half of the season. Asking a lot of their penalty kill as of late, they've been forced to kill off at least four opposing power plays in nine of their last 13 games.
Looking back at their first 13 games of the season, the Panthers, who are operating at 74.8% on the penalty kill in 2022-23, limited the opposition to just three or fewer power plays seven times.
Against the Rangers, the Panthers surrendered two power-play goals, including Vincent Trocheck's game-winning goal just 1:38 into the third period that put New York on top 4-2.

5. FLOW OF THE GAME

After getting off to a bit of a bumpy start and falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Panthers appeared to be in control for the majority of the rest of the game in terms of puck possession.
In the second and third periods, Florida led 31-16 in shot attempts, 17-9 in shots on goal, 17-7 in scoring chances and 7-3 in high-danger shot attempts at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
"The second and third period, I thought we carried the majority of the play," Cousins said. "We put the puck deep and got in on the forecheck. I really like when our team's forechecking. It makes it hard on their D and makes them defend. I thought in the second and third period we had a good chance to win."
But even with that possession, the Panthers couldn't find the goals they needed. When asked about that lack of execution, Maurice said it came down to how the team was moving the puck.
"We did not move the puck well -- in the feet, in the feet," Maurice said. "It ended up in the back of our net a couple of times on that. That would be the area that was most obvious. We gave up 12 shots through two periods. The first period we gave up seven on the PK. We didn't give them a heck of a whole lot, but they made good on their chances. There are good shooters there."
Overall, Maurice feels the second and third periods were something to build off of.
"The second and third periods were the first game really where I felt we played at a weight and heaviness and compete level that was right," Maurice said. "We've had other games that we played well, but in a bunch of those I wouldn't rate the other team as playing particularly well or hard. We gave up nine even-strength shots in the last two periods. We played hard."