Jesper Boqvist scored a pair of goals and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots as the Florida Panthers claimed its first win over the Utah Hockey Club, beating the NHL’s newest franchise by a 4-1 count at Delta Center.
After a scoreless, physical first period, the Cats struck early in the second with Barrett Hayton off for high-sticking Niko Mikkola.
The Panthers worked their patented passing play down low that saw Aleksander Barkov find Matthew Tkachuk at the side of the net and Tkachuk set up Sam Reinhart for the finishing strike from the bumper position at the 1:05 mark.
Bobrovsky made 17 saves in the middle frame to get his team to the dressing room with the lead intact.
The score remained the same until 1:48 into the third when Carter Verhaeghe found Boqvist open in the high slot and he beat Karel Vejmelka despite Juuso Valimaki getting a piece of the shot. The second assist on the eventual game-winner went to Anton Lundell.
Bobrovsky looked like he was going to post his second shutout of the season, but a pretty power-play goal by Logan Cooley derailed that. Cooley was all alone to Bobrovsky’s left and roofed a shot short-side after taking a pass from Clayton Keller. Former Bolt Mikhail Sergechev was credited with the second helper at 13:41.
With Vejmelka off for an extra attacker, Boqvist would take possession after Forsling slapped the puck around the boards and score into the vacant cage from deep in his own end on his backhand with 2:01 remaining in regulation.
Eetu Luostarinen dotted the “i” in win with a second ENG with the lone assist awarded to Matthew Tkachuk at 19:38.
While the Panthers still had trouble finishing, a fine game from the third line and another strong start from Bobrovsky, who earned the nod as First Star, pulled them through in Salt Lake City. The Cats became the ninth team in the league to hit 25 wins and will return to Sunrise for a Saturday afternoon game against the Boston Bruins before hitting the road again.
Latter Day Snipes
- Third Star Sam Reinhart’s goal was his 67th power-play marker as a Panther, moving him past Scott Mellanby for the second-most in franchise history. The marker ended a six-game goalless drought for Florida’s leading scorer.
- Jesper Boqvist produced his second multi-goal performance in his last five games. He notched the game-winner in both outings.
- Despite taking the loss, Karel Vejmelka delivered a quality start for the Clubbers, finishing with 29 saves on 31 shots faced.
- Niko Mikkola returned after a six-game absence to log 19:06 TOI. Mikkola posted a plus-two rating and was credited with three blocks and three of Florida’s 34 hits.
- Former Cat Kevin Stenlund had two shots on goal and a block in his first game against Florida since joining Utah. Stenlund also drew third period penalties on Mikkola and Matthew Tkachuk.
- It’s been tough going, but Carter Verhaeghe is now on a three-game point streak. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for Verhaeghe.
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