"It can get frustrating when you're working hard and doing the right things but not getting results," Panthers defenseman Marc Staal said. "We're pretty confident here that if we keep doing the things that we're doing consistently, we're going to start seeing some better results."
In the first stop on their westward trek, the Panthers struggled on both sides of the special teams battle in a 3-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Tuesday. In addition to surrendering a pair of goals on the penalty kill, the Panthers went 0-for-3 on the power play.
Colin White scored the lone goal for the Cats, who managed to slip just one of their 42 shots on goal past Karel Vejmelka in Arizona's net. Making his second consecutive start, Spencer Knight turned aside 18 of 20 shots for Florida, but went a perfect 13-for-13 on shots at even strength.
Cracking the scoresheet in seven of 10 games, White is tied with Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov for second on the Panthers in scoring with eight points. Leading all three of those players, Matthew Tkachuk paces the team in goals (5), assists (8) and points (13). Unfortunately, White is expected to miss tonight's game while nursing a minor injury.
Sitting at 5-4-1, the Panthers have killed off 71.8% of opposing power plays this season.
"The penalty kill is the special team that I think is almost more impactful during a game," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "Our 5-on-5 game, our analytics have been really good. We've introduced a whole new idea and a bunch of new people. The true inflection point is that Aaron Ekblad (who is expected to return from injury this month) left and our special teams have suffered pretty mightily since. We've got good players. We can adjust and we can get better."
After opening up their season with five straight losses, the Sharks have lost four of their last seven games, including a 6-5 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday to fall to 3-8-1.
Stealing the show even in defeat, Erik Karlsson, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, scored his first-career hat trick and also chipped in an assist against Anaheim. Off to a resurgent start this season, Karlsson ranks first among NHL defensemen in both goals (9) and points (15).
"I think everybody is seeing what a world class player he is," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "We're talking about a two-time Norris Trophy winner and he's only 32 years old. He's got a lot of great hockey ahead of him and he's certainly playing like a Norris Trophy winner now."
Timo Meier also scored a pair of goals against the Ducks, while Alexander Barabanov and Tomas Hertl dished out two assists each. Making his fifth start of the season, Kaapo Kahkonen, who has been sharing time in San Jose's net with James Reimer, made 39 saves on 44 shots.
"It's nice to score five goals, but at the same time we let in five as well," Karlsson said.
Finding success against the Sharks in recent seasons, the Panthers have won each of their past six matchups with San Jose dating back to Jan. 21, 2019. Over two head-to-head battles with the Sharks in 2021-22, Gustav Forsling led Florida with three points (one goal, two assists).
"We get to hang out for eight or nine days here and get to know each other a little better and go through some ups and downs together," Staal said of the team's current road trip. "We'll keep working at our game. I like where we're at and where our heads at. We'll keep on pushing and hopefully we'll get some results and string some wins together."
