Things escalate quickly after hit on Tkachuk, Bennett steps in

Florida did not just lose Sunday. The Panthers followed Saturday's 9-4 defeat with another loss to the same team, and that made the whole back-to-back feel even heavier.

The flashpoint came with Parker Wotherspoon all over Matthew Tkachuk again. The play-by-play logged Wotherspoon for roughing Tkachuk, then fighting him, and later had Bennett and Tkachuk both taking penalties against Wotherspoon.

That is why Bennett stood out in the sequence. He did not hang back while Tkachuk got tangled up; he jumped right into the mess and made sure Florida pushed back.

Here is the clip :

It looked like a bench trying to spark itself after the game had already tilted. Pittsburgh was up 3-1 after the first period, and Florida spent the rest of the afternoon chasing it.

Rickard Rakell's second goal pushed the Penguins to 4-1 late in the second. From there, the Panthers needed a clean third period and never got one.

Florida still generated enough to stay alive on paper. The Panthers finished with 31 shots, and Tkachuk rang one off the post before Carter Verhaeghe finally scored on the power play.

The score mattered, no question, but the clip spread because it captured the temperature of the game. Florida was irritated, Pittsburgh was comfortable, and Bennett was the one Panther who made the response immediate.

That edge did not change the standings math for Sunday's result. Florida came in at 37-37-3, while Pittsburgh improved to 40-22-16 and kept stacking points at the right time.

It also finished off a clean season sweep. The Penguins beat the Panthers 5-3, then 9-4, then 5-2, so this was not one bad afternoon from Florida.

The frustrating part for Maurice's group is that some of the details were not awful. Florida won 58.0% of the faceoffs and outshot Pittsburgh by 8, but the Penguins were far cleaner around the scoring areas.

So yes, Bennett's reaction will get the attention. It was the sharpest moment Florida had, and it showed at least one player was not ready to let Wotherspoon keep taking liberties without an answer.

But it was not a turning point. It was more like a snapshot of where the game already was, with the Panthers looking agitated and the Penguins looking in control from the opening period on.