2-11

SUNRISE, Fla. -After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Florida Panthers nearly clawed their way back in an eventual 5-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
In a very even game, Florida led 69-68 in shot attempts and 37-36 in scoring chances.
"I think we didn't have the start we wanted in this game," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "They dominated us in the first period. I don't know what happened there, but after that we came back and played a solid game until the end. We just didn't get the goals at the end."

At 26-23-6, the Panthers remain just three points out of a playoff spot.
"We've been playing really well lately," Barkov said. "We don't want to concentrate on this loss too much. Maybe pick the good things, move on and keep playing the way we've been playing."
Racing out to an early lead in enemy territory, the Avalanche broke the ice when Logan O'Connor scored from the doorstep on a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush to make it 1-0 at 3:35 of the first period.
Doubling the lead for Colorado, J.T. Compher sent a pass from behind the net into the slot and onto the stick of Matt Nieto, who then fired a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 2-0 at 8:04.
Gaining some energy after Ryan Lomberg dropped the gloves Andreas Englund, the Panthers got on the board in the second period when Aaron Ekblad took a pass from Anton Lundell and beat Alexander Georgiev with a deceptive shot from below the blue line to make it 2-1 at 7:03.
Just over a minute later, Sam Bennett flew down the right side of the ice and roofed a shot over Georgiev's glove to pull the Panthers even and make it 2-2 at 8:08. But that tie lasted just 25 seconds as Devon Toews then potted a rebound to put the Avalanche back on top 3-2 at 8:33.
"I feel pretty good," said Bennett, who has goals in three of his last four games. "Playing with some confidence right now. Having fun playing with my linemates, building some chemistry."
At 14:01, Nathan MacKinnon scored on the power play to increase Colorado's lead to 4-2.
Cutting into the deficit for the Panthers in the third period, Barkov, who returned to the lineup after sitting out the last game with an injury, skated down the slot and directed a slick centering feed from Sam Reinhart past Georgiev to make it 4-3 at 11:03.
"I thought he was really good," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Barkov's return. "For his first game back, he had some legs. We kept him out of the center circle, but Reinhart filled in and did a marvelous job in the middle."
On a late power play, the Panthers nearly tied it when a shot from Brandon Montour clanged off the post and slid through the crease without crossing the line. Then with 58.5 seconds left on the clock in regulation, MacKinnon scored on an empty net to lock in the 5-3 for the Avalanche.
"We battled there in the third," Bennett said. "We made a good push. A couple really good chances. We fought right until the end. It's unfortunate that we couldn't get it."

CATS QUOTES

"Obviously that's not the start we want. We've got to figure it out because these are so important. We can't be coming out flat like we have. That's something that we're definitely going to focus on." - Sam Bennett on falling behind early against the Avalanche
"He definitely got us going. He's that type of guy who gets us going no matter what he does. It was huge for him. He was great." - Aleksander Barkov on Ryan Lomberg's fight
"It ended up being an even game, but you're feeling that in our situation we can't have even games." - Paul Maurice on the back-and-forth nature of the game

CATS NOTES

  • Eric Staal extended his point streak to three games.
    - Sam Reinhart had produced multiple points in back-to-back games.
    - Aaron Ekblad saw a team-high 26:11 of ice time.
    - Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 of 38 shots at even strength.
    - Gustav Forsling blocked a team-high four shots.
    - Florida led 22-6 in shot attempts when Matthew Tkachuk was on the ice at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Hitting the road, the Panthers (26-23-6) will kick off a four-game trip with a matchup against the Minnesota Wild (27-20-4) at Xcel Energy Center on Monday at 8 p.m. ET.