Sam Reinhart scored twice and Ryan Lomberg potted the eventual game-winner early in the third as the Florida Panthers extended its winning streak to five games with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
A holding call on Kevin Stenlund led to the game’s first goal late in the first period. Just as the power play was coming to an end, Jacob Trouba took a cross from K’Andre Miller and let go of hard shot from the right point that Bobrovsky couldn’t handle. Bobrovsky wasn’t sure where the puck went, but Will Cuylle did, and he backhanded it between the Sergei’s pads at 16:39.
Reinhart would even the score midway through the second with his 25th power-play goal of the campaign. Aleksander Barkov worked a give-and-go with Carter Verhaeghe as they entered the New York zone. Barkov then made an unbelievable play, bunting Verhaeghe’s return pass out of the air to his forehand and then again to get past Miller before crossing to Reinhart for the put-away while falling down. Just an absolute jaw-dropper of an effort from Barkov to make the goal happen. Reinhart is the sixth player in the last 20 years to score 25 power-play goals.
The dynamic duo would combine for another 1:55 later to put the Cats ahead. This time Reinhart came off the bench to work a rapid fire give-and-go with Barkov, who had collected a miss by Gustav Forsling, before slinging a shot by Igor Shesterskin from the high shot at the 12:56 mark.
A double-minor for high-sticking on Anton Lundell gave the Rangers a golden opportunity to tie things up and they did so with 4:34 left in the frame. Artemi Panarin found former Panther Vincent Trocheck in the high slot and his low wrister left a juicy rebound for Chris Kreider to send home while fending off the efforts of Aaron Ekblad.
After Stenlund separated a rushing Johnny Brodzinski from the puck, Forsling whacked it back the other way to Lomberg. Lomberg moved into the offensive zone and put a rising floater through the legs of Trouba and past Shesterkin’s glove, stunning the goaltender and partisan crowd of 18,006 souls.
Lundell would ice the contest with an empty-netter when he skated into Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s bounce pass off the boards and found the yawning net with 59 ticks left on the clock and Adam Fox trying to pull him down from behind.
Another game, another quality opponent vanquished. After the taking the lead, the Panthers clamped down on the Rangers, limiting them to just six shots in the third, with Bobrovsky gloving their best bid to tie – a Mika Zibanejad deflection of Ryan Lindgren’s initial shot. The Panthers are 15-2 over the last seventeen games, with winning streaks of four, six, and five games in that torrid stretch. Bobrovsky has now held the oppoisition to two or less goals in eleven straight starts. Florida will finish off its already successful three-game road trip tonight in Newark against the New Jersey Devils.
Bulls & Bears
- Sam Reinhart’s first marker of the game snapped the tie he was in with Carter Verhaeghe for the third-most goals in a single season in franchise history. Reinhart needs 15 goals in the last 20 games to match Pavel Bure’s record of 59. That’s a tough ask, but he’s in great position to become the second Panther to ever reach the 50 plateau.
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and posted his 31st win. He is now in a three-way tie with Thatcher Demko and Alexander Georgiev for the league lead in that category. Bob for the Vezina!
- Artemi Panarin collected his 50th assist on New York’s second PPG, making him the third Rangers player to hit that mark in three straight seasons.
- In addition to his two primary assists, Aleksander Barkov went 12-for-15 on faceoffs and was credited with one shot, one hit and one blocked shot in 20:35 of ice time.
- Ex-Cat Vincent Trocheck finished with a game-high five shots while Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues each had four for Florida.
- The Panthers are two-for-two against the Rangers this season. Stop by Blueshirt Banter for more.