Florida reaches 85 points this season a full three games faster than any other Panther team in history, with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in the BB&T Center on Saturday night.
Reilly Smith (22, 23), Jonathan Huberdeau (13), and Aleksander Barkov (21) lit the lamp through regulation for the Panthers, with assists from Vincent Trocheck (26), Nick Bjugstad (14), Jussi Jokinen (37), Jaromir Jagr (29, 30), Aaron Ekblad (14), Dmitry Kulikov (13), and Jakub Kindl (5). Roberto Luongo made 22 saves on 26 shots, good enough only for an .846 save percentage on the night, but also good enough for the win.
For the Flyers, Michael Raffl had a goal (10) and an assist (13), while Sam Gagner had two helpers (6, 7) on the night. Also earning points were Nick Cousins (5), Ryan White (8), and Shayne Gostisbehere (15) with the other goals and Sean Couturier (20), Matt Read (13), and Evgeny Medvedev (8) with assists. Steve Mason made 25 saves on 29 shots to help the Flyers earn one point.
The shootout would see Luongo stop two shots on two tries, while both Bjugstad and Barkov were successful on their attempts against Mason.
Check back here in the morning for the full A.M. recap.