Friday, January 26, 2024

Panthers Freeze Penguins

     The Florida Panthers visited the Pittsburgh Penguins and won 3-2 in a shootout on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena. Florida set a new franchise record with a seven-game road winning streak. The Panthers play at the New York Islanders tomorrow in their final contest before the NHL All-Star Game break.
     Pittsburgh(21-17-7) rolled out to a 1-0 lead on the man advantage at the 1:51 mark of the first period. Erik Karlsson angled a pass from the high slot to Bryan Rust in the left circle. He sent it forward and Jake Guentzel stuffed the puck into the cage by Sergei Bobrovsky from the right of the crease for his 21st goal this season. 
     Florida(30-14-4) answered back with their own power-play goal at 4:52. Sam Bennett pushed the puck from the left wing. Oliver Ekman-Larsson snapped a shot from the top of the zone. Former Penguins player Evan Rodrigues deflected it and then backhanded in the rebound from the low slot past Alex Nedeljkovic for his eighth goal of the campaign. 
     In the second period, the Panthers took a 2-1 lead with 8:49 to go. Sam Reinhart collected his 36th goal of the season on a snap shot from the slot area while on the power play. Matthew Tkachuk and Ekman-Larsson were credited with assists on the play. 
     The Penguins pulled their goalie and tied it up 2-2 with 41.5 seconds left in the third period. Evgeni Malkin scored his 16th goal of the season on a wrist shot from the right of the crease off a feed from Sidney Crosby. 
     The Cats would get the victory in a shootout. Aleksander Barkov scored on the Panthers second attempt with a snap shot to the blocker side. Guentzel matched it on the Pens third attempt as it barely got in the net. Reinhart finished it with a wrist shot on Florida's third attempt. 

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