BUFFALO, N.Y. _ The past two games played by the Florida Panthers could be considered a microcosm of a season gone wrong.
A world-beater one night in dismantling the Western Conference-leading Chicago Blackhawks 7-0; and then two days later come to foggy Buffalo and play as if they were in one for the first 30 minutes in a 4-2 loss to the Sabres on Monday in KeyBank Center.
The Panthers have been consistently inconsistent, but the one staple of their game that they have counted on all season has been their top-ranked penalty-kill unit. Even that hurt them as the Sabres top-ranked power play overpowered the Panthers with two goals, including one on a bank shot by forward Brian Gionta off Panthers defenseman Jason Demers that gave Buffalo a 3-0 lead early in the second period they wouldn't relinquish.
It was Gionta towel giveaway night to commemorate his 1,000 game and surely, it's time the Panthers threw in their own towel regarding their slim-to-none playoff chances. They need to make up at least seven points with seven games remaining among seven teams to snatch the final wild-card berth from the Bruins. Even the Sabres are closing ground on the Panthers as they now have 76 points to Florida's 77.
Even if they sweep the Leafs (Tuesday), Canadiens and Bruins on Saturday on this road trip, they still would need Red Cross-like help from others.
In the glass-half-full category, mild-mannered Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau got his first career Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a rare fight that lasted about 10 seconds before he hit the ice.
Despite trailing 4-2 after two, the Panthers had a shot, a penalty shot by Reilly Smith at 14:37, to offer a glimmer of hope. While it's too late for Smith's disappointing season to be saved, his backhand flip attempt was saved by Robin Lehner to further squash Florida's collective spirit.
The Panthers finally got on the board with a power-play goal of their own, by of course, the scorching hot Jonathan Marchessault, who one-timed a pass from Huberdeau for his sixth goal in three games, his 10th in 10 games and team-leading 29th.
Panthers goaltender James Reimer has also been a bright spot in a dark season, but he, too, struggled, giving up four goals on 22 shots, including a marshmallow-softie on his short side by Marcus Foligno to make it 4-1, before being mercifully yanked for Reto Berra after 35 minutes.
Reimer received very little support from an invisible defensive corps that allowed the Sabres to play patty-cake on loose rebounds in front. The Panthers made it respectable at 16:10 of the second when Sabres defenseman Evan Rodrigues coughed it up to Huberdeau in front for a backhand lamp-lighter, his eighth goal and 23rd point in 24 games to cut the deficit in half after two.
Something had to give between the two very special teams and it did right away on a power-play goal by Buffalo's Ryan O'Reilly off a juicy rebound of former Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov's shot for a 1-0 lead at 3:21 of the first.
Jaromir Jagr, who was questionable to play after absorbing a brutal hip check that knocked him out of the final period of Saturday's game, continued his iron-man streak of having played all 75 games this season, and he found iron on a doorstep shot in the first that could've given the Panthers much-needed momentum.
The Sabres then took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission when defenseman Zach Bogosian fired a shot off the far post, causing the fans to let out a premature roar thinking it had gone in. The puck caromed to Bogosian on the side of the net where he persistently jammed it through Reimer's pads to elicit correctly timed cheers.
