Takeaways as Florida Panthers lose to Red Wings for second consecutive overtime defeat

For the second consecutive game, the Florida Panthers watched a lead disappear late and couldn’t find their late magic to pull out a win.

This time, it was a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.

It was Florida’s season-high third consecutive loss, although the Panthers did pick up points in the past two games by getting to overtime. The Panthers are 27-13-4.

Dylan Larkin scored the game winner for Detroit (23-16-5) on a power play 1:08 into the sudden-death overtime period with a snap shot from the right circle. The Red Wings’ power play was a continuation from the final seconds of regulation, when Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad was called for hooking with 39 seconds left.

Michael Rasmussen and Robby Fabbri scored the other goals for Detroit, which erased Florida leads of 1-0 and 2-1.

Sam Reinhart opened scoring with a shorthanded goal 5:38 into the second period and defenseman Gustav Forsling scored Florida’s second goal at 11:56 of the second period, 16 seconds after Rasmussen tied the game for Detroit.

Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 32 of 34 shots he faced, while Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 29.

The Panthers wrap up their five-game homestand on Friday against the Minnesota Wild, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.

The Panthers are 1-1-2 so far on this homestand, with a win over the Los Angeles Kings, a regulation loss to the New Jersey Devils and overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks and Red Wings.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Another blown third-period lead

The Panthers have now lost consecutive games in which they had the lead in the third period.

However, Florida did pick up a point in both those games and remain a near-perfect 19-0-3 when leading after two periods.

The only other game Florida did not win when leading after 40 minutes: The 3-2 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Oct. 30.

Yeah, Sam Reinhart did something again

Reinhart’s goal to open scoring in the second period hit a slew of milestones. In summary, the goal was:

▪ His 33rd goal of the season, tying his single-season career-high just 44 games into the season.

▪ His 500th career NHL point, 205 of which have come in his three seasons with the Panthers.

▪ His eighth consecutive game with a goal, a new Panthers franchise record — Pavel Bure had the previous record with seven that Reinhart matched on Monday.

▪ His eighth consecutive game with a special-teams goal (either on the power play or shorthanded), extending his NHL record that he set Monday. The previous record was six.

▪ His second consecutive game with a shorthanded goal, joining Radek Dvorak as the only players in Panthers history to score a shorthanded goal in back-to-back games.

▪ His fourth shorthanded goal of the season, tied with Calgary’s Blake Coleman for the third most in the NHL (the New York Islanders’ Simon Holmstrom and Philadelphia Flyers’ Travis Konecny are tied for the lead with five).

Anton Lundell steps up

With captain Aleksander Barkov sidelined by a lower-body injury, Anton Lundell took on top-line center duties on Wednesday for the Panthers.

Lundell centered a line with Reinhart and Eetu Luostarinen on his wings and was on the ice for 16:40 — just the second time since Dec. 10 that he had at least 16 minutes of ice time in a game.

Lundell had the primary assist on Reinhart’s shorthanded goal, had four shots on goal overall and went 5 for 6 in the faceoff circle.