RECAP: Panthers lose to Kraken, split season series

SUNRISE, Fla. -- After losing 5-1 in their previous meeting last week in Seattle, the Kraken returned the favor with a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Sunday.
"I think in the game there was an awful lot of difficulty with some basic things in our game," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the loss. "We had a hard time moving the puck. There are physical turnovers and mental, and we had a little bit of both today. We had pucks on our stick that we'd normally handle pretty easy that were a challenge for us."

Continuing his early-season campaign for the Calder Trophy, red-hot rookie Matty Beniers opened the scoring for the Kraken when he took a pass from Jared McCann and beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a powerful one-timer from the slot to make it 1-0 just 1:04 into the first period.
Netting his first goal of the season, Eric Staal evened things up for the Panthers when took a pass from Colin White and beat Martin Jones from the slot to make it 1-1 at 7:34 of the second period. Not long after that, Andre Burakovsky scored to put the Kraken back on top 2-1 at 9:05.
"Honestly, I'm here to play a role and contribute in any way I can," said Staal, whose 442 goals career goals are currently the fifth-most among active players in the NHL. "I've been asked to penalty kill a lot, and I take a lot of pride in that and doing a good job with the guys.
"It's always nice to contribute offensively and score. I've been able to do that for most of my career. It took a little while to get that first one, but hopefully it'll open the floodgates a little bit and relax the shoulders and I'll get a few more for this group as we keep moving forward."
Adding to their lead after killing off a power play, the Kraken went up 3-1 when Jordan Eberle set up in the slot and re-directed a shot from Beniers past Bobrovsky at 7:15 of the third period.
With the Kraken earning a five-minute power play after Ryan Lomberg was whistled for boarding Justin Schultz, Alex Wennberg extended the lead to 4-1 with a one-timer from the left circle at 15:09. With just 2:38 left in regulation, Yanni Gourde added an empty-net goal to make it 5-1.
With 1:17 remaining on the clock, Chris Tierney found the back of the net for the second time in three games when he deflected in a point shot from Matt Kiersted to trim Florida's deficit to 5-2.
"I know we have the winning quality in here," Kiersted said. "We can do it in here. I don't think it's a matter of this team not being as good as the other teams or anything. Things are going to start clicking for us. Some things aren't going our way right now, but it'll all come together."

KEY QUOTES

"This loss is already behind us. We have a day off tomorrow. We have to reset, regroup and get back to work. The biggest games are ahead of us, not behind us." - Sergei Bobrovsky
"They were quickest and on us, forced us to turn pucks over a little bit too much. They really attacked us with their quickness and their speed, and we just didn't seem to have enough guys with the gas needed to play. We needed to try and grind one out." - Eric Staal
"I don't think frustration has anything to do with the last two games. We didn't move quick enough in our last two games to expect to win. We weren't driving our legs. We looked like we played." - Paul Maurice

CATS NOTES

• Eric Staal has recorded a point in five of his last six games.
  - Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling each recorded three blocks.
  - The Kraken led the Panthers 20-10 in high-danger shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
  - Sam Bennett posted a team-high 65.0 CF% at 5-on-5.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (13-12-4) will look to get back into the win column when they continue their homestand with a matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets (10-15-2) at FLA Live Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.