Panthers fall in Boston, to finish lost road weekend

To say that this is a rough start to a road trip for the Florida Panthers would be putting it lightly. Between losing Sandis Vilmanis on Saturday afternoon due to a questionable hit by Tom Wilson, to continuing goalie issues, to lots of careless penalties, here's what went wrong over this November weekend.

Injury Bug Continues To Bite Panthers

Saturday opened positively enough, as the Panthers took on the Capitals in Capital One Arena, with Brady Tkachuk scoring early. But then the game turned. Vilmanis, one of the players who has had to step up in the absence of Sasha Barkov and Brad Marchand, had cleared the puck out of the zone when Wilson hit him from behind and sent him crashing to the boards. His neck also appeared to bend backwards slightly.

At first, the Panthers responded, with Brady Tkachuk scoring again, this time on the power play after Wilson's five-minute major and game misconduct. But things collapsed from there. Then, to add insult to the injury, word came down Sunday -- prior to the Panthers' game in Boston -- that Wilson would not receive any supplemental discipline, or even a fine, for his hit. This came at a time when Vilmanis was starting to roll, coming off a 4-point performance (by far the best of his career). It will be interesting to see how long it will take Vilmanis to recovery, and whether Paul Maurice and Bill Zito choose to bring someone up from the Charlotte Checkers in the interim.

Goalie Woes Continue

The Panthers got inconsistent work in the net. Ikira Schmid was between the pipes Saturday afternoon against the Capitals and put up a save percentage of .871%. He faced 31 shots against him and let four in. This was definitely one of his less memorable performances after he played so well for quite a few games in Jacob Markstrom's absence. Markstrom returned Sunday afternoon but it was not his sharpest performance, as he also yielded four goals. Florida needs to tighten up, and the defensemen need to help.

Preposterous Penalties Play a Role

The Boston game was particularly egregious, with the Panthers called for 15 penalties, some due to fighting and including 10-minute misconducts. Florida needs to get back to a more disciplined style; the Panthers are still shorthanded on the roster, and can't be shorthanded on the ice so often as well.

The road trip concludes November 10th against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:30 PM.