RECAP: Panthers can't build off strong start in loss to Stars

DALLAS -- Unable to build off a strong start, the Florida Panthers couldn't find the goals they needed during a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday.
Snapping their two-game winning streak, the Panthers now sit at 18-19-4.
"We just have to understand that the 60-minute game is a hard, hard game to play," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "If you're waiting for something unusual or something fancy to happen to get you going, you're going to be waiting a long time. The National Hockey League picks up as the season goes on, it doesn't slow down."

Netting his team-high 27th goal of the season, Jason Robertson, a recent selection to the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, opened the scoring for the Stars when he followed up on his own rebound and roofed a shot past Spencer Knight to make it 1-0 at 16:45 of the first period.
Despite trailing after 20 minutes, the Panthers certainly played well enough to have a goal or two of their own as they led 25-15 in shot attempts, 13-6 in scoring chances and 8-4 in high-danger shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
Extending the lead for the Stars in the second period, Nils Lundqvist blasted a one-timer into the back of the cage from the left circle on the power play to make it 2-0 at 10:03. Getting the Panthers on the board, Carter Verhaeghe then scored to slice the deficit to 2-1 at 12:35.

Just 39 seconds after Verhaeghe's tally, Esa Lindell scored from the slot to make it 3-1.
"We really liked our game to 2-1, and then when they made it 3-1 I really didn't like our game after that," Maurice said. "We absolutely stopped skating, and that was the driver for us early through the 3-1 goal. After that, we tried to do it a different way. … I'm not sure what we were trying to do, but we stopped moving our feet. You can't play the game if you're not skating."
Chasing down a loose puck at it glided into the offensive zone, Robertson picked up the rubber and fired a shot past Knight on a breakaway to put Dallas up 4-1 at 4:21 of the third period. With 4:11 left on the clock, Miro Heiskanen then buried a long empty-netter to make it 5-1 for the Stars.
After racking up 25 shots through two periods, Florida mustered just three in the third period.
"Our effort was there," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "I think in the first and second period we played well enough to maybe come out with the lead after the second period, but I feel like they just got the goals and confidence and shut it down in the third period."

CATS QUOTES

"It's easy to say put the puck in the net, but obviously they're not going in right now. We have a lot of chances, we grind them down in the offensive zone, we do a lot of good things there, but pucks aren't going in. You can't really do anything else except keep working as hard as possible, keep believing and keep putting the effort in." - Aleksander Barkov
"He's a good goalie for a reason, but we need to make it more difficult and shoot the puck. When we get chances we've got to bear down and bury pucks. We've got to work on it in practice. We're a really talented team, so we've just got to find a way to bury it." - Carter Verhaeghe on Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger

CATS NOTES

• Matthew Tkachuk extend his point streak to three games.
  - Marc Staal blocked a team-high three shots on goal.
  - Eric Staal won 60% of his faceoffs against the Stars.
  - Over four power plays, Florida recorded two shots on goal.
  - Florida generated 2.28 expected goals in the first period, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (18-19-4) will continue their road trip and head up into the mountains for a matchup against the Colorado Avalanche (20-15-3) at Ball Arena on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. ET.