Ducks' third period collapse keeps leads to loss against Panthers

ANAHEIM, Calif -- After coming off a brutal six-game road trip that featured the Anaheim Ducks going 1-5, they have lost their fourth straight game following a 5-2 loss at home against the Florida Panthers.

In Tuesday night's game, the Ducks (18-22-6) put together a great effort in the first two periods but all seemed lost after they gave up two goals within five minutes of the third period.

Anaheim was playing Florida (27-17-3) for the second consecutive time after suffering their third shutout of the season following a 3-0 loss on the road on Saturday.

While the Ducks lost by three to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, they nearly matched their style of play on the ice, winning 42.4% of faceoffs and outshooting them 30-29.

Coming into the game, the Ducks were getting one of their best scoring weapons back in Trevor Zegras. He was making his return to the lineup after missing the last six weeks due to a torn meniscus.

"When you give a team like that an edge they're going to put it in the back of your net." Trevor Zegras said. "I feel like we were a little sloppy on our end getting to our spots and positions and obviously against a team like that they're going to capitalize."

While Zegras did not score a goal in their loss, he was on the ice for a total of 15 minutes and had a total of four shots. When asked how he felt being back on the ice for the first time in over a month, he said he felt good and credited the Ducks training staff.

"Surprisingly a lot better than I thought in terms of pace of the game and how my body felt. I give a lot of credit to the training staff." Zegras said.

In the first period, a total of five goals were scored between the Ducks and Panthers. The Ducks were responsible for the first and last goals in the period while the Panthers were responsible for the other three.

Anaheim's approach offensively aggressive in the first period, as Frank Vatrano scored his 12th goal of the season early in the period on a power play to give them a 1-0 lead. Both Troy Terry and Ryan Strome were awarded assists on the play.

While the Ducks had an early lead, that would quickly come to an end once Florida got back to full strength. Four minutes after Vatrano's goal, Sam Reinhart tied the game at one.

The Panthers later increased their lead in the final three minutes of the first period. Evan Rodrigues and and Carter Verhaeghe both scored to give Florida a 3-1 lead.

Rodrigues' score came after a missed shot when Dostal deflected the puck near his shoulder. The puck came back to Rodrigues and this time he would shoot it between Dostal's legs, only for it to bounce off of his pad and into his net, giving the Panthers a 2-1 lead. 20 seconds after his goal, the Panthers' lead extended by two when Vergaeghe scored.

As Anaheim was trailing at the end of the first period, they cut their deficit down by one. After not scoring in his last six games, Mason McTavish got his name back on the scoreboard for his seventh goal of the season to cut the Ducks deficit by one.

Within the first three minutes of the second period, the Ducks had both Jacob Trouba and Robby Fabbri in the penalty box, allowing Florida to increase their lead by two again as they had a five-on-three power play. Anaheim's defense stayed resilient and gave up zero points during the disadvantage.

Throughout the second period, Anaheim continued to be aggressive with the puck and continued to be resilient on defense, limiting Florida's opportunities with the puck and keeping them our of their zone.

"I thought we had a lot of zone time. Obviously, with that long change, I thought we had them in our end for good periods of time. It's just tough when you don't capitalize and maybe you don't get one or two (goals) to give you that extra boost going into the third. But I really liked our second period."

"I thought the second period was great. We had the puck for most of the period." Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "I felt there was a lot of momentum going into the third period."

While the Ducks seemed to have matched the Panthers in the first two periods, Florida showed why they are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, scoring within the first 18 seconds of the third period and again within the five-minute mark, giving them a three-score lead.

Sam Bennett scored the first for the Panthers in the third. Uvis Balinskis later followed up his goal to give the game its final score of 5-2.

After Bennett's goal, the Ducks looked completely puzzled on the ice and could never find the energy they had in the first two periods.

"We could of have had more shots," Cronin said. "I think we had a four-on-one at the end of one of the kills. We had breakaways that (bounced) off our stick. That's the nature of the way they play and we try to match that."

"This third period was very uncharacteristic. We should have taken the momentum and carried it into the third period."