Wild pummels Panthers, Bobrovsky early often in 5-1 decision to spoil Tkachuk’s return

Florida Panthers fans hoping to catch Sergei Bobrovsky’s milestone night will probably need a plane ticket — and perhaps even a passport.

Rather than recording his 400th career win, the Florida Panthers star goalie put together his worst start of the season Tuesday.

Bobrovsky surrendered five goals on 16 shots before giving way to Spencer Knight after the second intermission of the Panthers’ 5-1 thumping at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.

And with the Panthers (4-3-1) set to embark on a multiweek, multicontinental road trip, odds are Bobrovsky will get that historic win No. 400 away from Amerant Bank Arena.

Minnesota (4-0-2) went wild on Florida’s back line Tuesday, putting Bobrovsky in some unwinnable situations. But the two-time Vezina Trophy winner wasn’t blameless, either.

It’s rarely just one thing when a team gets rocked, and on Tuesday, the Panthers had no answer for any of Minnesota’s top three lines.

Jake Middleton had three assists, Kirill Kaprizov had two, and Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and an assist.

“There was an emotional level you have to get to play the way we play or play well in an NHL game,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who recently agreed to a multiyear contract extension, the team announced Tuesday. “... The coach didn’t get them right.”

Added forward Sam Bennett: “We’re a little too soft tonight. Need to be a little bit more physical, more engaged in the game and, yeah, we’re just gonna regroup on that one.”

The Minnesota blizzard ruined the return of Matthew Tkachuk, who had and assist and two shots in 22 shifts in his first game in two weeks.

Tkachuk missed the past five games with an illness, but was thrilled to watch his teammates’ success from afar. Florida went 3-1-1 in the games he missed, getting winning production from Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart.

Aleksander Barkov remains sidelined with a lower-body injury, but the Panthers are hopeful to have him back next week.

“When we’re simple, we’re better,” Tkachuk said after morning skate. “When we’re simple, we’re faster, quicker shifts, better decision making rolling lines like we have that. And I think the guys that are returning know that and know what it takes and know the success we have playing that way.”

Speed wasn’t an issue in the first period. Intensity and defensive breakdowns were — in rapid succession.

The Wild scored twice in 22 seconds — on its third and fourth shots of the game.

Marco Rossi broke the scoreless tie by dutifully tapping home a perfect pass from Kaprizov that got Bobrovsky moving too late. The goal was Rossi’s third of the season.

The Wild’s celebration had hardly ended when it scored again. Bobrovsky couldn’t handle a Marcus Johansson slap shot from the left circle that got into his body. But the bigger mistake occurred earlier in the rush when Niko Mikkola whiffed as Boldy zoomed by at the blue line, allowing the Minnesota winger to set up Johansson’s left-handed blast.

The Panthers went to the break down 2-0 despite having nearly twice as many shots and three times as many high-danger chances.

But mistakes continued to doom them after the first intermission. After Bennett went to the box for an interference call in the first minute of period No. 2, the Wild again went to work.

And it was Boldy again who was in the middle of it. He camped out in front of the net and redirected home a shot from Zuccarello to put Minnesota up 3-0.

The Panthers hinted at a desire to get back into it midway through the third with a gorgeous three-man game involving Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, and Bennett which Bennett paid off with his fifth goal of the season.

But that was false hope for the home faithful. Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek put the game away with goals late in the period.

Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 24 of the 35 shots he faced to win for the fourth time in five starts.