Monday, October 16, 2023

Panthers Slide By Devils

     The Florida Panthers held off the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at Prudential Center on Monday night. Sergei Bobrovsky tied John Vanbiesbrouck for second place in Florida Panthers franchise history with his 106th career victory.
     The Panthers completed a three-game road trip to begin the regular season. They will reveal their 2022-23 Eastern Conference Champions banner on Thursday night prior to their home opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 
     Florida(1-2-0) had a 1-0 advantage at the 3:54 mark of the first period. Evan Rodrigues snapped a shot from the top right circle and it was deflected in by Sam Reinhart in the low slot for his second goal of the campaign. Aleksander Barkov was credited with a secondary assist on the play. 
     The Panthers expanded it to 2-0 with 6:48 left in the first. Matthew Tkachuk lifted a long lead pass from his own zone. Carter Verhaeghe picked it up in the right circle and then roofed a backhand shot from the right of the crease for his second tally of the season. 
     New Jersey(1-1-1) trailed 3-0 with 8:42 remaining in the second period. Niko Mikkola scored with a wrist shot on assists from Tkachuk and Dmitry Kulikov. 
     In the third period, the Cats made it a four-goal margin with the man advantage 59 seconds into the frame. Oliver Ekman-Larsson fired a shot from the blue line and Reinhart redirected it from the top of the crease for his second goal of the game. 
     The Devils finally broke the shutout while on the power play at the 3:35 mark and were down 4-1. Jack Hughes released a snap shot from the top of the zone and it was deflected in by Erik Haula from the top of the crease. 
     New Jersey cut it to 4-2 at 8:51. Haula blasted a slap shot from the right circle which was saved by Bobrovsky. Michael McLeod tapped the puck in from the left side of the crease.
     The Devils pulled their goalie with 4:14 to go in the period. It eventually led to a power-play goal by Jesper Bratt when he snapped a shot with 2:23 remaining. 

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