The Florida Panthers ran into one of the few teams as focused and rolling as themselves last night, and were  out-hustled and out-played in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. The Caps, 2nd best in the Eastern Conference and well out in front in the Southeast division, dominated the Panthers and kept them in check for most of the game. In reality, things could have been worse for the Panthers, who managed to keep the game close despite Washington clearly controlling the game from start to finish.

The night got off to an ominous start as the Capitals scored just 33 seconds into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Keith Ballard would get Florida back in the game at 8:35 with his 5th goal of the season, tying the game 1-1. Despite being outshot 15-7 in the opening period, the Panthers escaped with a 1-1 tie. The 2nd period was again controlled for the most part by Washington, who outshot the Panthers 11-9, but were stonewalled by Tomas Vokoun in net. The 2nd period came and went with no goals.

The 3rd period would be a different story. Washington again flexed its muscle in the 3rd, outshooting Florida 13-5. The Caps again found the back of the net early, scoring 43 seconds into the period to retake a one goal lead at 2-1. Try as they might, Washington wasn’t able to find the back of the net against Vokoun again, but at 18:47 they would take a 3-1 lead on an empty net goal.

The Panthers have been red hot since the start of the new calendar year, but lately some early season issues appear to be returning to haunt the team. In the past 5 games, Florida has been struggling both on the power play and penalty kill. Going back to their game on January 29th against Montreal, the Panthers are 3-17 (17% success) on the power play and were goalless on PP opportunities in 3 of the 5 games. On the other side, the penalty kill has been poor lately as well. Since that same game, the Panthers have allowed 5 goals on 15 opportunities, a 33% success rate for their opponents. During that 5 game stretch the Panthers have allowed an average of 1 PP goal against per game.

Fixing special teams situations will be key if the Panthers are to make a serious run at the playoffs. That problem aside, the team is playing well they just aren’t always getting the desired results.