PITTSBURGH – The Florda Panthers will leave the Steel City empty-handed after losing 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.
After Saturday’s 9-4 win, the Penguins ended the weekend with back-to-back wins.
“We were better than yesterday,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We fell behind a little bit, but I don’t think we were strong enough to fall behind like that. We made some good penalty kills, had some pretty good action on the power play and got a goal. I think that’s it.”
Although they are out of reach for the playoffs, the injury-plagued Panthers are looking to finish as strong as possible.
“We’ve been together as a group for a long time, so it’s tough to lose a big piece (to injury),” forward Carter Verge said. “But we just feed off the energy of the new guys. I just think about how grateful I am to be playing in the NHL, even if it didn’t mean much to the game. When I think back to when I was a kid, it was a dream to play against the Penguins.”
They kept the Penguins at bay for the first half of the first period, and the Panthers hung on through two penalty kills. Even during a season filled with adversity, the University of Florida’s penalty kill success rate has remained consistent, ranking 10th in the NHL at 81.1% entering this afternoon’s game.
But shortly after that second penalty kill, the Penguins managed to break the ice when Connor Dewar met Daniil Tarasov outside the crease and retrieved the puck. From that turnover, Elmer Soderblom fired the puck into an empty cage to make it 1-0 at 11:00.
Cole Schwindt, who had an assist in his first game back from injury Saturday, scored the Panthers’ tying goal off a no-look pass from Vinny Hinostroza, beating Artur Silovs with a laser-snap shot from the left circle to make it 1-1 at 16:15.
“We’re going to move him up a little bit and get him a little bit more ice time,” Morris said of the young center’s plans in the homestretch. “It’s definitely difficult coming in back-to-back games, but he’s moving well and we’ll try to give him as many opportunities as possible to feel good.”
