Panthers Continue Slide With Third Straight Loss

The Florida Panthers continued to struggle with a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

The loss was Florida's third in a row, and the team's sixth defeat in the last seven games overall. The Panthers had won five in a row prior to the slide, but that progress has been virtually erased at this point.

Thomas Vanek scored his first goal for the Panthers and his 16th of the season during the second period. Vanek's goal trimmed the deficit from three to two and had assists on it from Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck.

During a power play late in the third period, Aaron Ekblad made it a two-goal game with his tenth of the season. The goal for Ekblad at the 16:34 mark of the period came with assists from Trocheck and Jussi Jokinen.

The Panthers had their chances to score more, but Henrik Lundqvist did a fantastic job in New York's net. The Panthers ended up taking 44 shots on goal, and eight of those came from Ekblad.

James Reimer started for the Panthers, but did not last the full 60 minutes. Reimer had 15 saves in 19 chances, before the Panthers made a change in the net. Reto Berra came in after New York's fourth goal and ended up stopping all eight attempts sent his way.

Due to Roberto Luongo's injury status, Reimer has been forced into more action lately and could be showing some signs of fatigue. Berra could see a start in the coming days, and that decision may come easier after his solid work in this one.