Panthers’ win streak up to four after chippy win over Detroit in Bobrovsky’s return
The Florida Panthers continued to ride their hot streak as the NHL All-Star break approaches, taking a 4-1 road win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night at Little Ceasars Arena to extend their win streak to four games.
But it didn’t come as smoothly as the final score indicates.
The Panthers overcame a chippy 60 minutes of action in Detroit. Florida fought off seven penalties, saw Sergei Bobrovsky make big saves in his return and had four players find the back of the net as the Panthers continue their quest to stay in the hunt to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“A lot of power plays out there tonight and our [penalty kill] was pretty good,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville told reporters in Detroit. “Bob was really good and then he was our best [penalty] killer. Early in the game, he made a couple of big saves.”
Evgenii Dadonov, Mark Pysyk, Aleksander Barkov and Denis Malgin netted goals for the Panthers (26-16-5), who have outscored opponents 21-10 over this win streak.
Bobrovsky stopped 27 of 28 shots in his first game since Jan. 9. This included stopping a breakaway shot and rebound attempt from Frans Nielsen during a four-on-four in the second period.
It was a positive sign for the Panthers to see Bobrovsky return to form, considering Florida announced that backup goaltender Chris Driedger is expected to miss “several weeks” after suffering a lower-body injury in the first period of their win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Sam Montembeault is with the team on emergency conditions.
“I feel pretty good,” Bobrovsky said. “I thought our guys helped me get into the game.”
And while Bobrovsky still has a ways to go to improve his overall season numbers — he’s 17-12-4 on the season with a .898 save percentage and 3.22 goals allowed average — he continued one positive trend with his performance on Saturday.
The 31-year-old netminder is a perfect 3-0 with a .957 save percentage (four goals allowed on 93 shots against) in starts after sitting out multiple games this season. He gave up one goal on 34 shots in the Panthers’ 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 7 after sitting in favor of Chris Driedger for two games. He also stopped 30 of 32 shots against the Vancouver Canucks in his last start on Jan. 9 after not playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Arizona Coyotes before that.
“It’s great to get back and play again,” Bobrovsky said. “I missed only two games, but it feels like I haven’t played for a month.”
Killing penalties
The Panthers were down a man for 12:21 against the Red Wings as penalties were continuously called on Thursday.
Brett Connolly, Malgin and Vincent Trocheck each went to the box twice while Pysyk and Colton Sceviour each received a minor penalty as well.
But Florida didn’t flinch. Bobrovsky was a perfect 11 for 11 on save opportunities while Detroit was on the power play.
“We were in the box a lot, seven times, but our PK did good job,” Pysyk said. “Guys dug in.”
The Panthers, meanwhile, had six power plays of their own, playing 8:36 with an extra skater. Barkov scored the lone power-play goal of the game with 6:55 left in regulation.
Streaks and milestones
▪ Frank Vatrano had two assists on Saturday, giving him 101 points for his NHL career.
▪ Mike Hoffman extended his point streak to eight games with a secondary assist on Malgin’s third-period empty-net goal.
▪ Pysyk’s first-period goal gives him a career-high four goals on the season. Pysyk, a defenseman for the majority of his career, has spent the bulk of the season as a winger on Florida’s fourth line.
Next up
The Panthers follow an off day on Sunday with back-to-back games at the Minnesota Wild on Monday and Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday in their final games before the All-Star break.
This story was originally published January 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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