The Florida Panthers, down to their third goaltender, hold on to beat LA Kings
Chris Driedger stretched out his right leg to protect the net from an incoming Los Angeles Kings shot attempt that ultimately went wide midway through the first period.
The puck cleared well past the Florida Panthers’ goaltender, but Driedger remained down. A trainer checked on him before he was ultimately helped off the ice.
And with Sergei Bobrovsky scratched for the second consecutive game with an injury of his own, the Panthers’ net belonged to Sam Montembeault for the final 50 minutes on Thursday.
He did just fine, keeping a shutout intact until midway through the third period while the Panthers built up a large enough lead to fend off a late Kings rally.
Final score: Florida 4, Los Angeles 3.
The Panthers (25-16-5) finished their four-game homestand on a three-game win streak to pick up six out of a possible eight points during this stretch on home ice. They followed up a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 7 with wins over the Vancouver Canucks (5-2), Toronto Maple Leafs (8-4) and Kings. The Kings fall to 18-26-5 on the season.
Florida has 55 points on the season, one behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers for the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot with two games in hand.
“Winning is what we’re all about,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “This wasn’t your traditional way of going about it, but it was a big win for [Montembeault] and for us. You look at tonight and the standings and the teams that are moving up and down. It’s getting tighter and closer every single day when you’re looking at the standings. It was important for that most importantly.”
Montembeault, who last played for the Panthers on Nov. 24 and has spent the nearly two months since with Florida’s AHL affiliate Springfield (Massachusetts) Thunderbirds, stopped 21 of 24 shots that came his way — including the first 18 and three in the final minute — after entering the game with 9:55 left in the first period. Driedger went 4 for 4 on save opportunities before leaving with the injury.
Montembeault was recalled Wednesday on emergency conditions, meaning he is up solely because the Panthers have fewer than two healthy goaltenders and must be sent back to the AHL as soon as they hit that two-goaltender minimum threshold. The Panthers also did this Sunday prior to their win over the Maple Leafs.
“I’ve been running around a lot,” Montembeault said. “I had three flights in three days — Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I had a chance to get a good practice [Wednesday]. ... Turns out we played well and had a good night.”
They didn’t need Montembeault to step on the ice Sunday.
They did Thursday. He stepped up.
By early in the third period, a “Monty” chant briefly broke out among the crowd.
“I thought he was really comfortable at the beginning of the game there,” Quennville said. “He was doing some good things.”
He also had help with the Panthers playing well in front of him.
He entered the game with a 1-0 lead with Evgenii Dadonov scoring a power-play goal on a snap shot from the low post 6:04 into the contest. It was Dadonov’s team-leading 20th goal of the season.
Frank Vatrano doubled the lead about three minutes into the second period when he took a pass from Dominic Toninato and buried a slap shot into the back of the net. It was Vatrano’s 11th goal of the season and his fourth in the last seven games.
Mike Matheson and Brian Boyle closed out the Panthers’ scoring with a pair of early third-period goals to give Florida just enough of a cushion to sustain a late Kings rally. Matheson scored on the power play with 15:05 left in regulation on an assist from Aaron Ekblad. Boyle’s wrist shot with 12:54 remaining was unassisted. It was Matheson’s second consecutive game with a goal. Boyle scored for the first time since Dec. 21 at the Carolina Hurricanes.
Alex Iaffalo broke up the shutout with 8:18 left in regulation. Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar followed with back-to-back power-play goals to cut the Panthers’ lead to one with 2:40 left to play.
“We needed two points. That was the objective and we got it,” said Boyle, who blocked a potential game-tying shot with five seconds left. “It’s a good lesson to see how quickly it can get away from you, but I thought we did a lot of really good things. ... We put Monty in a tough spot, but we closed it out.”
Streaks and milestones
▪ Aleksander Barkov’s secondary assist on Dadonov’s power-play goal moved him to third place in franchise history with 395 career points. He trails just teammate Jonathan Huberdeau (421) and Olli Jokinen (419).
▪ Mike Hoffman’s secondary assist on Vatrano’s second-period goal gives him points in seven consecutive games, which is tied for the longest streak by a Panthers player this season. Barkov also had a seven-game point streak from Oct. 30 to Nov. 14.
Next up
The Panthers now embark on a three-game road trip before heading into the All-Star Break. They face the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday before a back-to-back against the Minnesota Wild on Monday and Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 9:32 PM.
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