Yahoo Sports Three takeaways: Small mistakes lead to big loss, update on Sam Bennett
The Florida Panthers saw their seven-game winning streak snapped by the visiting New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
It was the first loss for Florida in three weeks, dropping them to 11-4-1 on the young season.
There were no excuses for the Cats to point to following the 4-1 loss.
They were rested and playing on home ice, and while yes, they were missing Sam Bennett – a late scratch due that we’ll get to later – Florida has already proven this season that they can look quite good without key players in the lineup.
One good thing the Panthers could take home was the knowledge that they can get right back after the Devils on Thursday night due to the odd scheduling this week.
Let’s get to the takeaways:
SMALL MISSTEPS LEAD TO LOSS
Florida played a strong game on Tuesday, outshooting the Devils 34-24, while the shot attempts favored the Cats 78-47.
For the most part, the Panthers controlled play, but the quality scoring chances were much more even than most of the possession metrics.
That’s why a couple of Florida’s neutral zone errors stood out like sore thumbs
Not only did they end up in the back of the Panthers net, they overshadowed a game that Florida wasn’t as bad as the final score would indicate.
“It'll be three or four mistakes that ended up being the difference,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “I know there weren't a lot of them. Both teams checked pretty hard and had good sticks. It was hard to generate. So you're looking to clean those mistakes up as best you can.”
RIGHT BACK AT IT
Both teams left Amerant Bank Arena knowing they’d be right back there for a rematch in 48 hours.
It’s actually the second time Florida has been in that situation this season, playing consecutive games against the Dallas Stars during the NHL Global Series earlier this month.
The difference there, aside from the games being played in Finland, was that those two contests were on back-to-back days.
This time, Florida and New Jersey will have a day off between the games to stew over what went down and figure out what they can do better.
Maurice liked it and explained why.
“Both teams will probably look at some of their executions,” he said. “We did some things with the puck that kept us out of our forecheck, which we would like to clean up. There'll be some things like that. I like the back-to-back a lot more, and it's got a more of a playoff feeling that you'll make adjustments off your game. Those are really important things. I think you'll learn faster because you don't have a change necessarily in style for the next game, so the things that you want to correct, you'll have an opportunity to do that. Both teams will try to be better in the areas that they were good, and then I'll try to read what the other team did well.”
SAM BENNETT UPDATE
After Florida’s morning skate in Fort Lauderdale, Maurice told the media that the only lineup change that night would be in goal.
When the Cats took the ice in Sunrise later that night, however, Sam Bennett was not with his teammates.
Following the game, Maurice gave an explanation, easing any concerns that something had happened to Bennett that would keep him out long term.
“He came in and tightened up this morning before the morning skate and didn't loosen up over the course of the day, so we couldn't play him,” Maurice said. “Even if it keeps him out of another game – he may come back in tomorrow and be 100% fine – and if not, it wouldn't be a long term situation.”
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