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Recap: Panthers get by Coyotes 3-1 to end road losing streak

Posted on by Todd Little

The Florida Panthers nipped the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 to end its seven-game (0-3-4) road losing streak and became the first team in the NHL to hit the 40-point mark this season.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 23 shots to raise his record to 12-1-2 and lowered his goals against average to 2.32.

Patric Hornqvist and Sam Bennett scored ten seconds apart midway through the first period to give the Cats a lead they would not relinquish.

Hornqvist beat Scott Wedgewood bar down with a wrist shot from the right circle at the 9:05 mark to cap off a 2-on-2 rush. Ryan Lomberg and Eetu Luostarinen picked up the assists on Hornqvit’s fourth.

Sam Reinhart bumped Aaron Ekblad’s pass to Bennett and he entered the Coyotes zone and he snapped a wrister from the high slot by Wedgewood, who was screened by his defenseman Dysin Mayo.

Phil Kessel scored a power-play goal from Travis Boyd and Barrett Hayton to halve the deficit  at 16:53. Hornqvist tripped former Panther Lawson Crouse to give Arizona the man-advantage.

Reinhart replied with a power-play marker 2:42 later to restore Florida’s two-goal lead. Jonathan Huberdeau and Hornqvist worked the puck free and Hornqvist sent it to Reinhart, who fired home through traffic to complete the scoring early.

The Cats killed off three power plays and held Arizona to 15 shots on goal over the final forty minutes and Bobrovsky stopped all of them to guide his club to its fourth win in the last five games, giving Florida the season series sweep over the troubled Coyotes. Florida will finish its three-game trek west on Sunday against the Colorado Avalance.

Kibbles & Bits

  • The victory was the Panthers first away from FLA Live Arena since they beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in overtime on October 29.
  • Florida reached 40 points in the fewest games (26) in club history, bettering the previous low of 27 games in 2020-21 and 1996-97.
  • Jonathan Huberdeau’s assist on Sam Reinhart’s goal extended his point streak to five games. Hubderdeau has amassed 11 points in that span.
  • Phil Kessel scored Arizona’s first man-advantage goal in ten games, ending a 0-for-18 run for the league’s worst power play. Kessel registered a game-high six shots on goal.
  • Defenseman Olli Juolevi made his Panthers debut and put one shot on goal while logging 10:17 of ice time.
  • Scott Wedgewood stopped 20 shots and fell to 3-8-2 on the season.
  • Cats are better than dogs, read more about it at Five For Howling./

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