The Florida Panthers will head into the NHL All-Star Break as the top team in the Eastern Conference.
They also head into the two-plus week hiatus of games on the heels of a loss.
The Panthers only held a lead for a little more than a minute in their 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
With the regulation loss, Florida is 32-10-5 on the season. Its 69 points are the most in the Eastern Conference and at worst will be tied for the most in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche depending on the result of Colorado’s late game with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Sam Reinhart gave Florida a brief 2-1 lead a little more than two minutes into the second period when he scooped up a loose puck after Aleksander Barkov hit the post on the power play and got a wrist shot past Igor Shesterkin. Anthony Duclair scored Florida’s first goal midway through the first period.
But the Rangers (30-13-4) tied the game 69 seconds later with Alexis Lafreniere’s 10th goal of the season. Chris Kreider scored the Rangers’ go-ahead goal on the power play with 2:35 left in the second period and added another power-play goal with 5:21 left in regulation to seal the win. Artemi Panarin added an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left on the clock.
Kreider leads the NHL with 33 goals.
Huberdeau, Lundell honored
Panthers forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Anton Lundell are both in strong contention to win some of the NHL’s top individual awards when the season comes to an end.
In the meantime, they received league-wide accolades on Tuesday for their strong play last month.
Huberdeau, the Panthers’ lone player representative at this weekend’s All-Star Game, was named the NHL’s First Star of the Month for January after leading the NHL with 19 assists and 25 points in a 15-game span. He recorded at least one point in 13 of 15 outings, with seven multi-point games and three three-point nights. On the season, Huberdeau, a contender for the Hart Memorial Trophy given to the NHL’s most valuable player, leads the NHL with 64 points and 47 assists.
Lundell was the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for January after leading all first-year players in points (17) and assists (14) over 15 games.
