Florida Panthers top the Rangers 4-3 in coach Joel Quenneville’s 900th career win

All of the work had already been done.

The Florida Panthers traded goals with the New York Rangers through the first 40 minutes of play Saturday at the BB&T Center.

With the game tied at 3-3 late in the second period, right wing Evgenii Dadonov scored the go-ahead goal to give Florida a 4-3 advantage heading to the final 20 minutes.

The Panthers just needed to protect their lead.

They did.

With some critical saves late in the game by goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida (10-5-5) left with the 4-3 win, and coach Joel Quenneville picked up his 900th career victory, making him just the second coach in NHL history (Scotty Bowman, 1,244) to hit the mark.

Florida will continue its four-game home stretch against the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Saturday’s contest started with a Panthers power play less than two minutes in. During the frame, left wing Mike Hoffman zipped an assist from Jonathan Huberdeau and Keith Yandle into the back of the net to give the Panthers the early 1-0 lead.

The score made it the ninth straight game that the Panthers have scored a power play goal.

Huberdeau entered the game tied with Stephen Weiss for the Panthers’ all-time assists record (249). The pass to Hoffman put Huberdeau at 250 career assists, giving him sole possession off the franchise record.

The celebration of Huberdeau’s milestone didn’t last long. Rangers’ center Ryan Strome answered with a goal less than a minute after.

A penalty on Rangers left wing Michael Haley came later in the same period, leading to the second Panthers power play of the game.

And again, they took advantage.

Dadonov, with his first of two goals on the night, gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead off another assist by Huberdeau and Yandle, but Florida’s advantage again slipped away.

Artemi Panarin beat Bobrovsky and put the puck past him into the right corner of the net.

Bobrovsky redeemed himself with a big save in the second period -- during a Panthers penalty kill after Aleksander Barkov went to the box for hooking. He had 30 saves on the night.

The Panthers veteran goaltender gave up another goal a few minutes later, however, and the Rangers took a 3-2 lead.

It was answered by Panthers right wing Brett Connolly, who tied the game with 11 minutes left in the second period. Connolly, who’s in his first season with the Panthers, picked up his seventh goal of the season.

Dadonov’s go-ahead goal late in the second period gave him a team-high 10 this season, and he’s now third with 18 points.

Huberdeau and Yandle each had three assists, and Huberdeau now leads the team with 27 points on the season.

This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 10:23 PM.