After their first loss of the season against the New York Rangers, the Florida Panthers returned to their usual style of play on Thursday with a 3-1 victory at Madison Square Garden.
“We just wanted to protect it and hope the offense came, and it did,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “It came early. Playing with the lead behind us was key for us. It definitely helped us to play against a team that we have had some rivalry with since last year.
With 24 saves, Sergei Bobrovsky celebrated the 400th victory in his career.
The two-time Vezina Trophy winner is just the 14th goaltender in NHL history to reach 400 wins and the fastest to do so in just 707 games.
Oddly, the old record was set by Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist with 727 games.
“This is special,” said Bobrovsky, who won 145 games as a Panther. “If you look at the list, these guys are legends. It is definitely an honor to be on the same list with them.
Anton Lundell, finding the net for the fifth time in the last six games, broke the ice just 44 seconds into the first period when he stood alone in front of the New York goal and deflected a pass from Sam Reinhart passes Igor Schesterkin for 1 early : The Panthers took a 0-lead.
Less than two minutes later, Carter Verhaeghe doubled the Panthers’ lead when he made it 2-0 with a laser shot from the center of the left circle (2:42). Alexis Lafrenière responded for New York with a backhand shot to make it 2-1 (4:44).
Bobrovsky helped the Panthers stay atop the league by making two strong penalty saves late in the period. After stopping Chris Kreider on a point-blank shot from the left side of the net, he blocked the Rangers striker’s quick effort.
Bobrovsky went one better in the second period, making perhaps his biggest save of the game when he extended his right stick and blocked a shot from Vincent Trocheck with his toe. Of his 14 saves in the first two periods, eight were extremely dangerous.
“He had a lot of saves where he needed to be seen,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “I think both goalies faced really good shooters tonight and both made saves good. I don’t know if teams have to lose the offense, they saved.
Shortly after Bobrovsky’s big save, Sam Bennett deflected a shot from Niko Mikkola to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead (6:59).
Bennett has lit the lamp in each of the last three games.
“He’s taking control,” Tkachuk said. “He’s good with the puck.
The Panthers got some momentum early in the third period when they had to serve their third penalty of the game. Although the Rangers had the sixth best power play in the NHL at 31.6%, Florida’s penalty kill was the best bet in the special teams battle.
Shesterkin, also a Vezina Trophy winner, didn’t let Bobrovsky take all the attention, but he made a splash of himself when he made a glove save to deny Verhaeghe’s power play goal.
After the Panthers were penalized with 3:03 left in regulation, the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for a 6-on-4 advantage, but could do nothing against Bobrovsky. After the fourth and final penalty of the game, the Panthers shut down the sack until the final buzzer sounded.
With a record of 5-3-1, the Panthers have now scored in five of their last six games.
Bobrovsky will enjoy this victory a little more.
“Enjoy this trip,” Bobrovsky said. “Enjoy every moment in hockey gear.”
2024-10-25 18:37:00
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