Cats rout Lightning, close in on record for consecutive road wins
Less than 30 seconds after the opening puck drop on Saturday, the Florida Panthers found themselves trailing their cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning. Brandon Hagel received a pass from Anthony Cirelli and took advantage of the partial breakaway to beat Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky from the left side of the net.
And then the rout began — and the Panthers now find themselves on the verge of NHL history.
Florida scored a franchise-record nine consecutive goals to beat Tampa Bay 9-2 at Amalie Arena to sweep a three-game road trip and win its 11th consecutive road game overall. The Panthers (36-15-4), who are now in sole possession for first place in the Eastern Conference, are just the sixth team in NHL history to have a road win streak of at least 11 games.
The NHL record is 12 games, done first by the Detroit Red
Wings in the 2005-06 season and then matched by the Minnesota Wild in the 2014-15 season. Florida can match that mark Thursday with a win at the Carolina Hurricanes.
After falling behind 1-0 early, the Panthers tied the game on a Brandon Montour slap shot from the point immediately after an offensive zone faceoff 7:01 into the first period.
The madness ensued after that. A Sam Bennett one-timer from the right circle 12:28 into the first period. 2-1 Florida.
A Kevin Stenlund snap shot from the left circle 17:44 into the first period. 3-1 Florida.
A Gustav Forsling wrist shot that deflects off goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove 18:38 into the first period. 4-1 Florida.
Back-to-back Matthew Tkachuk power-play goals in the first 1:37 of
the second period. 5-1 and then 6-1 Florida.
That was it for Tampa Bay’s Vasilevskiy, who was replaced in net by Jonas Johansson to start the third period. Johansson didn’t fare much better.
A Carter Verhaeghe wrist shot on a give-andgo with Bennett finds the back of the net. 7-1 Florida.
Bennett then nabbed his second goal with a shot from up close on the power play. 8-1 Florida.
And then Verhaeghe scored his 30th of the season and second of the period when he collected a rebound from a Forsling shot and fired a wrist shot into the net. 9-1 Florida.
The nine consecutive goals are the most by the Panthers in a game, breaking the previous mark of eight in an 8-0 win over the Toronto
Maple Leafs on Feb. 5, 2008.
It was also one goal shy of the Panthers’ franchise record of 10 goals scored on Nov. 26, 1997, against the Bruins.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
POWER PLAY ON A RECORD-SETTING RUN
The Panthers have scored at least one powerplay goal in each of their past 10 games.
That is tied for the longest streak with a power-play goal in franchise history.
Florida also hit 10 consecutive games with goals on the man advantage from Nov. 1-21, 2018.
Overall, the Panthers have scored 15 power-play goals on 33 opportunities — a 45.5-percent success rate — over these 10 games.
SERGEI BOBROVSKY HOLDS HIS OWN AFTER EARLY GOAL
It might get lost in the flurry of goals, but Bobrovsky was stellar in net after giving up the goal on the first shot he faced.
Bobrovsky followed up the early goal allowed by stopping 26 consecutive shots while the offense built up its lead before giving up a power-play goal to Brayden Point midway through the third period.
Arguably the most impressive was denying the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, who leads the NHL in points, on a breakaway late in the second period that led to a loud “Bobby” chant echoing from the Panthers fans in the arena who made the trip to Tampa for the game.
“It was special,” Bobrovsky said. “It was great to feel that, great to hear that. We had great support.”
Bobrovsky finished with 28 saves on 30 shots on goal. He is now 27-10-2 on the season and has allowed two goals or fewer in each of his past six starts.
SAM REINHART STUCK ON 39 GOALS
While the Panthers outscored their opponents 18-4 over this three-game road trip — Florida also beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Wednesday and the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Thursday — one player surprisingly did not find the back of the net.
All-Star forward Sam Reinhart did not record a goal in the wins over the Penguins, Sabres or Lightning (30-21-5) and remains stuck on 39 goals — one shy of becoming the fourth player in franchise history to hit the 40-goal mark.
This is just the fourth time this season that Reinhart has gone at least three games without scoring a goal.