Reimer has hot hand for Panthers

Florida wins third straight in shutout

SUNRISE — The countdown started in the beginning of the month, long before the Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 on Saturday night at the BB&T Center. Set by coach Bob Boughner, the team flipped the hourglass, waiting for the sand to run out by the NHL’s Christmas break.

The calendar presented the Panthers with a dozen chances to claw back to respectability. The target was to be within a hot streak of playoff contention. The checkpoint was Saturday night.

With Jonathan Huberdeau’s second-period goal and goaltender James Reimer’s 38 saves, the Panthers entered a four-day break on a three-game win streak. It’s the first three-game winning streak of the season for Florida.

Huberdeau’s goal was his third in the past two games, arriving late in the play to finish a Nick Bjugstad assist. Keith Yandle led Bjugstad out of the defensive zone with an outlet pass to pick up the secondary assist. Huberdeau had one goal in his previous 10 games before his current outbreak.

But Reimer made sure Huberdeau’s goal would stand.

Reimer has owned the Panthers net since Roberto Luongo suffered a lower-body injury on Dec. 4. Saturday night was his ninth straight start and came on the heels of Friday night’s 60-minute effort. Florida will likely lean on him for at least another month with Luongo out.

“As long as he feels good,” Boughner said before Saturday’s game, “he’s going to play.”

Reimer wasn’t tested excessively, but came up huge when he had to. The Senators only had 20 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes of the game, but Reimer made three key saves to keep the Panthers up by a goal.

First, he got just enough of Mike Hoff-