Panthers Win In Utah

     The Florida Panthers played their first NHL game ever in the state of Utah against the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night.  The Cats ended up being victorious 4-1. The Arizona Coyotes franchise moved to Utah during the offseason. 

     After a scoreless opening period, Florida(25-15-2) took a 1-0 lead with the man advantage at the 1:05 mark of the second period. Sam Reinhart scored his 23rd goal of the season on a snap shot. Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov chalked up the assists on the sequence. Reinhart passed Scott Mellanby with his 67th power-play goal for second place in franchise history. 

     The Panthers increased it to 2-0 at 1:48 of the third period. Carter Verhaeghe connected a cross-ice pass from the low left circle. Jesper Boqvist snapped a shot from the high slot past Karel Veljmelka for his eighth tally this year. Anton Lundell was credited for a secondary assist on the play. 

     Utah(17-16-7) cut it to 2-1 with 6:19 remaining in the third on the power play. Mikhail Sergachev angled a pass from the top of the zone and Clayton Keller pushed the puck from above the right circle. Logan Cooley placed in a snap shot from the right goal line by Sergei Bobrovsky for his 11th goal of the 2024-25 campaign. 

     Utah Hockey Club pulled their goalie for an extra skater with 2:15 to go. Boqvist collected his second goal of the contest and ninth goal of the year when he backhanded a shot into an empty net with 2:01 left to make it 3-1. 

     Eetu Luostarinen would add another empty-net goal with 21.9 seconds remaining for a three-goal margin. Tkachuk picked up his second assist of the game.