Panthers Fall To Avalanche

     The Florida Panthers lost to the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday night at Ball Arena. The Panthers began a short two-game road swing. The Avalanche, who are now on an eight-game point streak, have a 12-3-1 record since December 1. Panthers defenseman Tobias Bjornfot made his season debut for the Cats. 

     Florida(24-15-2) jumped out to a 1-0 lead with 4:03 left in the first period. Anton Lundell made a diagonal pass from the high slot and Carter Verhaeghe snapped a shot from the right circle past Mackenzie Blackwood for his 10th goal of the season. The Avs outshot the Cats 11-4 in the opening frame. 

     In the second period, Colorado(25-15-1) evened it up 1-1 with 1:14 remaining. Casey Mittelstadt sent a square pass from the right point. Devon Toews placed in his fourth tally this year on a wrist shot from the top of the zone by Sergei Bobrovsky.  

     It became 2-1 for the Avalanche at the 8:54 mark of the third period. Ross Colton angled a pass from the right wing. Toews fired a wrist shot from the blue line and collected his second goal of the game and his fifth goal of the campaign. 

     The Panthers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 2:10 to go. Mikko Rantanen shot the puck into an empty net from the Avs own right circle with 1:57 left for his 24th goal in 2024-25 to make it 3-1.