Panthers struggle keeping up with speedy Avalanche, fall 6-1 in Colorado

The Florida Panthers ran into a buzzsaw on Thursday night.

Playing the back end of a back-to-back set, Florida was shellacked by the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche by a final score of 6-2.

Colorado jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when they scored on their first rush of the night.

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A nice cross-ice pass by Martin Necas found a wide-open Sam Malinski, and his long wrist shot squeaked through Daniil Tarasov to give the Avs a 1-0 lead just 74 seconds into the game.

The Panthers tied the game about six minutes later, and the goal came from an unlikely source: Floridaâ€s fourth line.

After a nice poke-check by Seth Jones, Noah Gregor picked up the puck and flew up the left side of the ice before driving toward the net. He then flipped a shot that went over the blocker of Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game at one at the 7:21 mark.

A bad bounce led to Florida falling behind again shortly before the end of the period.

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Gus Forsling was defending in front of Tarasov when a Valeri Nichushkin wrist shot hit him in the back and bounced to the side of the crease, where Brock Nelson extended his stick and got just enough of the puck to squeeze it between Tarasovâ€s skate and the goal post.

The Avalanche doubled their lead at the 5:05 mark of the middle frame when Gavin Brindley got his backhand on a Brent Burns rebound after the pair came down the ice on a 2-on-1.

A long wrist shot by Nathan MacKinnon got past a screened Tarasov just over two minutes later, suddenly making it 4-1 Colorado.

Artturi Lehkonen scored on what felt like Coloradoâ€s tenth breakaway of the game, making it 5-1 Avalanche with 7:29 left in the second period.

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Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog got in on the fun at the 6:18 mark of the third period, corralling a Necas rebound and beating a sprawling Tarasov to five the Avs a 6-1 lead on their 38th shot of the night.

Florida picked up a goal with just under seven minutes to go, but it may have come at a cost.

Mackie Samoskevich finished off a nice passing play with A.J. Greer and Evan Rodrigues, but when Greer made a spinning pass at the side of Coloradoâ€s net, Josh Manson slid down to try and block the pass and took out Greerâ€s skates causing him to go feet first into the boards.

Greer went to Floridaâ€s locker room afterwards and did not return.

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On to Dallas.

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Photo caption: Dec 11, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates his goal with center Nathan MacKinnon (29) against Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) in the second period at Ball Arena. (Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images)

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