Panthers clinch playoff berth, but sixth loss in past seven games more of a concern

Sometimes, clinching a playoff spot can feel a bit empty.

First of all, the Florida Panthers lost a home game, 3-2, to the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Secondly, that’s six losses in the past seven games for the Cats.

And while clinching the playoffs for the fifth straight year is obviously a good thing, the Panthers have bigger goals – such as chasing down the Boston Bruins for the Atlantic Division title and even possibly winning the President’s Cup, which is given to the team with the best regular-season record in the NHL.

Florida (97 points) trails Boston by two points, but the Panthers have nine games left in the regular season – one more than the Bruins.

The chase for the President’s Cup is a bit more complicated as several teams are in the mix. But the New York Rangers lead the way with 100 points and 10 games left.

As for Thursday’s loss, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said it was just a matter of a bad second period, which is when the Islanders took the lead.

“We need to find a way to play a good 60 minutes,” Barkov said. “We played a good first period, and we had a good push at the end.

“But sometimes 20 minutes is the thing.”

Indeed, the Islanders’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the go-ahead goal with 9:18 left in the second period, and the Panthers couldn’t fully solve backup goalie Semyon Varlamov (27 saves).

Barkov had one goal and one assist, reaching a milestone with 700 career points. Vladimir Tarasenko had Florida’s other goal, and Panthers backup goalie Anthony Stolarz stopped 21 shots in a losing effort.

The Panthers, though, did get good news on the injury front as key defenseman Aaron Ekblad returned after a seven-game absence.

After getting Barkov and defenseman Gustav Forsling back earlier this week, the Panthers are essentially fully healthy, and they also killed off all six of New York’s power plays on Thursday.

But, besides the goal by Pageau, the Islanders also got one goal each from Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal.

The Islanders had two goals disputed for supposed goalie interference. The first of those goals, by Pulock, was wiped out. The second one, by Pageau, was ruled a good goal despite contact on Stolarz.

Florida opened the scoring with 8:13 expired in the first period as Tarasenko, from the right circle, threw the puck at the net. Pageau then inadvertently deflected the puck in off his stick.

New York tied the score with 13:20 gone in the first as Pulock beat Stolarz cleanly, ripping his shot in off the left post.

Florida took a 2-1 lead with 6:32 elapsed in the second. After an Islanders turnover, Sam Reinhart rushed up the ice and slid a perfect pass to Barkov, who tapped the puck past Varlamov.

Two minutes later, the Islanders tied the score again as Barzal’s deflection of a Noah Dobson shot made it 2-2.

Then, with 9:18 left in the second, the Islanders grabbed their first lead of the game, 3-2, on Pageau’s controversial goal. New York’s Casey Cizikas appeared to trip Florida’s Sam Bennett and then bump into Stolarz, but Pageau’s rebound goal stood.

“We had some chances,” Barkov said. “We are playing hard. But we need to play hard every shift.”