Scrums and ejections aside, Panthers had big moments in win against Senators. The highlights
By the end of the game Monday night, the focus drifted from what would eventually be a 5-0 Florida Panthers road win against the Ottawa Senators.
All eyes were on the scrums, the fights, the brouhahas that unfolded throughout the third period and ultimately resulted in 13 players being kicked out of the game — including one fracas with about eight minutes left that had referee Garrett Rank announce that “Every player on the ice has a 10-minute misconduct among other penalties.”
Overall, 167 penalty ice minutes were handed out — 84 for Ottawa, 83 for Florida — with 151 of them coming in the final 20 minutes.
Before that, though, the Panthers executed the type of game they wanted to play and had arguably their best all-around effort of the season. They outshot Ottawa 38-20, executed on special teams (three power-play goals, a perfect 6 for 6 on the penalty kill) and saw contributions from all of their key playmakers.
It led to a big win for the team and big individual moments for a few players.
Here are the highlights.
Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 20 shots that came his way en route to his second shutout of the season and the 40th of his NHL career.
Bobrovsky is one of four active NHL goaltenders with at least 40 career shutouts, joining Marc-Andre Fleury (73), Jonathan Quick (60) and Semyon Varlamov (40).
Bobrovsky wasn’t tested often Monday — he faced no more than seven shots on goal in any given period — but he did stop three high-danger chances late.
“A shutout is teamwork,” said Bobrovsky, who is 10-6-1 on the season. “I appreciate my teammates for the hard work they put in. I am lucky to get the shutout.”
Monday was also Brovrovsky’s 370th career win, the 20th most in NHL history. He did it in 659 games, the fewest games needed to get to that mark. Henrik Lundqvist had the previous best mark at 672 games.
More Barkov milestones
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov had three assists Monday, all coming on the power play. Each one resulted in a milestone.
Assist No. 1 was the 400th assist of his career.
Assist No. 2 was the 650th point of his career.
And assist No. 3 was the 192nd power-play point of his career, a Panthers franchise record.
Barkov already owns the Panthers records for games played (682), goals (249) and points (651). At 402 assists, he is 13 shy of tying Jonathan Huberdeau’s franchise mark of 415.
“They mean a lot to me,” Barkov said of the milestones and franchise records. “I love being a Panther. I’m really happy and fortunate that I’ve been here for a long time. ... The older I get, the better it’s going to feel.”
Monday was also Barkov’s 13th career three-assist game and the third time in his NHL career that he logged three points on the power play. The other two times came last season: Dec. 29, 2022, against the Boston Bruins and Nov. 23, 2022, against the Boston Bruins.
Reinhart back on top
Panthers forward Sam Reinhart scored Florida’s first two goals Monday, both on the power play. He is now tied with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Vancouver’s Brock Boeser for the NHL lead with 15 goals.
Reinhart, Boeser and the New York Rangers’ Chris Kreider are also tied for the NHL lead with seven power-play goals.
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