The Florida Panthers returned to its winning ways on the road by blanking the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 in penalty-filled, matinee affair at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.
After a scoreless first period, Brandon Montour opened the scoring 8:50 into the second. Montour started the play off with a crsip headman pass to Anton Lundell, who dished off to Evan Rodrigues after he crossed the blue line. Rodrigues put the puck in front looking for Lundell, forcing Alex Lyon to kick it out to Montour and he made no mistake on the juicy rebound.
The Panthers doubled the lead at the 13:06 mark, with one second left to run on Jake Walman’s holding minor. Applying heavy pressure on the hosts, Montour cranked a shot that Sam Reinhart may or may not have tipped wide. The rebound came to Aleskander Barkov and he quickly fed Reinhart, who fired a shot that ramped up off Jeff Petry’s blade and soared over Lyon.
After Eetu Luostartinen teamed up with Lundell to dispossess Petry off the puck, Luostarinen set up Rodrigues for a one-timer from the top of the right circle to make it 3-0 4:39 into the third. Get off my back, monkey!
Carter Verhagehe would complete the scoring with a power-play goal from long range, with the assists going to Montour and Matthew Tkachuk and Barkov providing a screen in front with 6:58 left on the clock to ice the dominating victory.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 21 shots faced, including a late second period breakaway save on Patrick Kane that could’ve halved Detroit’s deficit, to post his fourth shutout of the season, and second against the Red Wings.
After seeing its franchise-record road winning streak come to end in Carolina the last time they were away from home, the Panthers delivered another a clinic to up their record as visitors to a league-best 21-8-2. The Cats are 11-0-1 in their last games against the Red Wings (11-0-1) and are 13-2-0 at Little Caesars Arena. Florida now leads the NHL in wins (41), points (86) and winning percentage (.705). Up next, a day off followed by a back-to-back against the New York Rangers and NBew Jersey Devils.
Engines & Brakes
- First Star Brandon Montour finished with a goal, two assists, four shots and two hits in 15:17 of ice time. Montour has racked up four goals and 13 points in the last seven games.
- Sergei Bobrovsky became the third goalie to reach 30 wins in 2023-24. He hit that mark for the seventh time in his career. Bob’s four shutouts are the most he has posted in a single season as a Panther. He had three during the 2021-22 campaign and just one last year.
- Evan Rodrigues, who failed to light the lamp in February, ended a 12-game goalless drought with his insurance marker early in the third. The last time Rodrigues scored was on January 26, against the PIttsburgh Penguins.
- Sam Reinhart’s 42nd goal tied Carter Verhaeghe for the third-most in franchise history. Only Pavel Bure (59 in 2000-01, 58 in 1999-00) has scored more in a single season than those two.
- After beating his former team in overtime the last time out, Alex Lyon was solved four times on 37 shots, and took his tenth loss.
- Special teams played a huge part in Florida’s win. The Panthers went 2-for-5 on the power play and killed off all five of the Red Wings’ chances.
- Patrick Kane saw his ten-game point streak come to end. Kane only had two shots, but both required fine saves from Bobrovsy to keep him from finding the back of the net.
- For the other side of Game 3 of the season series, visit Winging It In Motown.