5 Takeaways: Reimer Exits Early with Injury in Loss to Dallas

The Florida Panthers lost both the game and their goaltender in a 6-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.

"It's never fun losing like this," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "It's a bad feeling for everyone on the bench. I think we competed hard, like we talked about after the first period, but we just couldn't find that second goal… We've got to regroup. It's a tough loss."
Panthers goaltender James Reimer exited the game and never returned after suffering a lower-body injury while trying to make a save just 3:48 into the first period. Already without their No. 1 goaltender, Roberto Luongo, who is not expected to return until at least early February from a lower-body injury suffered on Dec. 4, Boughner said losing yet another goalie likely took a toll on players.
"We're already without our big guy, our starting goalie," Boughner said. "To see your other guy go down, I'm sure that affected the team a little bit on the bench for a while."
With Reimer out, the Stars took advantage of inexperienced backup Harri Sateri, scoring six goals to extend their point streak to five games. Jamie Benn scored the game-winning goal for Dallas, burying a backhand to put the Stars up 2-0 at 6:43 of the second period. "I think it's hard to look at right now," Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie said of the loss. "I like the way our team stuck together tonight. I thought for the better part of most of the game we were in it."
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's loss in Dallas…

1. REIMER INJURED

James Reimer played just 3:48 on Tuesday night, making three saves before exiting the game with a lower-body injury early in the first period. The injury was non-contact, as Reimer appeared to tweak something while dropping down into the butterfly stance. After being tended to on the ice for several minutes, Reimer headed to the dressing room and never returned. With Reimer out, Harri Sateri stepped in between the pipes for the Panthers. Sateri, who made the first start of his NHL career on Saturday in Nashville, stopped 30 of 36 shots in relief. "We tried to fight hard for Harri," Boughner said. "It's tough. When you only score on goal on the road you're not going to win a lot of hockey games." With Reimer's status uncertain, the Panthers will play just one more game - a Thursday night matchup against Washington at BB&T Center - before heading into the All-Star break. Expect an update on Reimer on Thursday, as the team flies back from Dallas tomorrow afternoon.

2. GLOVES COME OFF

There was a total of 84 penalty minutes handed out during the first 20 minutes of Tuesday night's game. Yes, you read that right - 84. Florida led the way with 46, while the Stars had 38, with the majority of the punishment stemming from four separate fights. The busy fight card was as follows: Keith Yandle vs. Antoine Roussel, Micheal Haley vs. Radek Faksa, Derek MacKenzie vs. Faksa, and Alexander Petrovic vs. Dillon Heatherington, with both Petrovic and Heatherington receiving 10-minute misconducts for engaging in a brawl while another was already taking place. There were also two more fights later in the game for a grand total of six, which is the most in a single game this season, according to Sportsnet Stats. "It's a tight group and they stuck up for each other," Boughner said. "They win together, they lose together. I have no issue with that. It shows some pride." The Panthers lead the NHL with 26 fights this season (they had 25 all of last season), while Haley leads all individuals with 13, according to HockeyFights.com. In the world of weird stats, Haley ended the game with a whopping 39 penalty minutes in just 2:43 of ice time - the most PIMs by a single player in a game since 2015.

3. EKBLAD'S GOT POWER

With time winding down in the second period, Aaron Ekblad put the Panthers in a position to strike heading into the final frame. After Denis Malgin's shot from the top of the right circle was stopped, Ekblad quickly pounced on the rebound, firing it past Stars goaltender Ben Bishop for a power-play goal at 15:47 of the second. While the goal unfortunately didn't factor into the final result, it was certainly an encouraging sign for Florida's power play. The Panthers entered Tuesday night's game with just 22 goals on the man advantage and only five of them credited to players currently on the Ekblad-led second unit. But with Ekblad's score, Florida has now registered at least one power play goal in four of its last six games. "I thought that we had some momentum after Ekblad scored that goal going into the end of the period," Boughner said. "We came out and they got a shorthanded goal and it was sort of downhill from there." At 21, Ekblad leads all Panthers defenseman in goals (9) and power-play goals (2).

4. PK PROBLEMS

The Panthers entered Tuesday night's game having allowed just eight power play goals over their last 25 games and boasting the league's third-best PK% during that span. But in Dallas, that hot streak turned cold, as the Stars took advantage of Florida's parade to the penalty box, going 2-for-6 with the extra attacker - the most power play opportunities allowed by the Panthers since Dec. 7. It was an out-of-character performance for Florida's penalty kill, which has surrendered two-or-more power play goals in just five games this season. "At the end of the way we're here to get the points, and we failed," Boughner said. "We failed miserably."

5. IRON MAN

Keith Yandle suited up in his 679th consecutive game on Tuesday night, tying Vancouver Canucks forward Henrik Sedin (679) for seventh all-time. As the NHL's reigning iron man, the 31-year-old defenseman hasn't missed a day of work since March 22, 2009, when he was a member of the Phoenix Coyotes. Yandle has also played 128 consecutive games for the Panthers since joining the club on a seven-year contract during the summer of 2016. Yandle took over the active streak earlier this month after Anaheim forward Andrew Cogliano's 830-game streak was snapped due a suspension. "It's great company," Yandle said of the achievement.