Panthers dominate second period with four goals to defeat Penguins
There was very little offense in the first period on Wednesday between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said that was by design. In an intermission interview on TNT, Maurice said the goal of the first 20 minutes was to grind down the Penguins and then turn up the offensive intensity after the opening frame.
The strategy worked. The Panthers scored four goals in a stretch of about nine minutes in the second period and cruised from there to a 5-2 win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena to begin a three-game road trip.
The Panthers improved to 34-15-4 on the season, two points behind the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh falls to 23-20-7.
Matthew Tkachuk, Jonah Gadjovich, Aaron Ekblad and Anton Lundell scored Florida’s secondperiod goals, with Tkachuk adding assists on the goals from Ekblad and Lundell for a three-point period.
Lundell added a thirdperiod goal for his sixth career multi-goal game and his first of the season.
All four Florida secondperiod goals came immediately after Pittsburgh had a power-play goal disallowed due to a high stick.
MATTHEW TKACHUK’S HEATER CONTINUES
With his three-point night on Wednesday, Tkachuk now has 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) over Florida’s past 21 games. The Panthers, unsurprisingly, are 16-3-2 in that stretch.
And all three of his points on this night came during a nine-minute flurry in the second period. It started with his goal 4:28 into the period on a give-and-go with Evan Rodrigues, who moments earlier had gotten out of the penalty box.
Tkachuk then had the primary assist on Ekblad’s power-play goal 8:27 into the frame and on Lundell’s goal 13:02 into the frame when Lundell deflected in Tkachuk’s shot.
Tkachuk has logged multiple points in 11 of those 21 games, including six of the past eight.
Wednesday also marked Tkachuk’s 20th threepoint game since joining the Panthers ahead of the 2022-23 season. Only Connor McDavid (31), Nikita Kucherov (25), Nathan MacKinnon (24) and Leon Draisaitl (24) have more over that span.
ANOTHER BIG BOBROVSKY EFFORT
While the offensive outbreak gave the Panthers the lead, goaltender Sergei Bobrovksy once again did his part to make sure the efforts didn’t go to waste.
Bobrovsky stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced to improve to 26-10-2 on the season.
The two goals Bobrovsky allowed: A Jake Guentzel wrist shot from the high slot with 4:26 left in the second period and a wrist shot from former Panthers prospect John Ludvig 6:07 into the third period. The Panthers challenged the Guentzel goal for goaltender interference on the play but the call stood.
Wednesday was Bobrovsky’s fifth consecutive start allowing no more than two goals and the
21st overall game in 39 starts. The Panthers are 18-3-0 in those games.
ROAD WARRIORS
With the win, the Panthers are now 18-7-2 on the road this season and have won each of their past nine games away from Amerant Bank Arena.
For summaries, complete standings, scores go to the eEdition at MiamiHerald.com.
Boston Florida Tampa Bay Toronto Detroit Montreal Buffalo Ottawa Metropolitan
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia New Jersey N.Y. Islanders Washington Pittsburgh Columbus
Central
Dallas Colorado Winnipeg St. Louis Nashville Minnesota Arizona Chicago Pacific
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
53 32 11 10 74 180 138 53 34 15 4 72 172 133 54 29 20 5 63 185 177 51 27 16 8 62 180 163 52 27 19 6 60 184 172 53 22 23 8 52 150 187 52 23 25 4 50 155 160 49 22 25 2 46 169 176 GP W L OT Pts GF GA
53 34 16 3 52 30 17 5 54 29 19 6 52 27 21 4 53 22 18 13 52 23 21 8 50 23 20 7 52 16 26 10
71 172 147 65 173 153 64 161 155 58 176 180 57 155 177 54 127 164 53 146 136 42 153 194
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
53 33 14 6 72 196 161 54 33 17 4 70 202 172 51 32 14 5 69 152 117 52 28 22 2 58 152 160 53 27 24 2 56 160 168 53 25 23 5 55 162 173 52 23 25 4 50 153 163 53 14 36 3 31 111 187 GP W LOT Pts GF GA
Vancouver 54 36 12 6 78 199 141 Vegas 53 31 16 6 68 172 146 Edmonton 49 31 17 1 63 174 138 Los Angeles 50 24 16 10 58 156 139 Calgary 53 25 23 5 55 163 163 Seattle 53 22 21 10 54 145 154 Anaheim 52 18 32 2 38 132 180 San Jose 52 14 33 5 33 107 200 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
Florida has outscored opponents 38-16 over the nine-game road win streak.
Florida’s .704 points percentage on the road is the best in the NHL, while the 18 wins are tied with the Vancouver Canucks for most in the league.
“Feeling comfortable on the road might be the most important attribute
THURSDAY
Florida at Buffalo
Anaheim at Ottawa Colorado at Tampa Bay
Los Angeles at New Jersey Montreal at N.Y. Rangers Philadelphia at Toronto Seattle at Boston
Dallas at Nashville Edmonton at St. Louis Pittsburgh at Chicago
San Jose at Calgary Detroit at Vancouver WEDNESDAY
Florida 5, Pittsburgh 2
Winnipeg 1, San Jose 0 Minnesota 3, Arizona 1
Florida 0 4 1—5 Pittsburgh 0 1 1—2
First Period—None. Penalties—Lomberg, Fla (delay of game), 8:56; Ekman-Larsson, Fla (cross checking), 17:14; Malkin, Pit (roughing), 20:00; Ekman-Larsson, Fla (roughing), 20:00.
Second Period—1, Florida, M.Tkachuk 18 (Rodrigues, Forsling) 4:28 2, Florida, Gadjovich 2 (Montour, Stenlund) 5:02 3, Florida, Ekblad 3 (M.Tkachuk, Rodrigues) 8:27 (pp) 4, Florida, Lundell 5 (M.Tkachuk, Cousins) 13:02 5, Pittsburgh, Rust 14 (Guentzel, Ruhwedel) 15:24. Penalties— Rodrigues, Fla (hooking), 2:22; Pettersson, Pit (hooking), 6:45; bench, Fla (delay of game), 15:24; Letang, Pit (cross checking), 17:47.
Third Period—6, Florida, Lundell 6 (Luostarinen) 5:35 7, Pittsburgh, Ludvig 1 (D.O’Connor, Eller) 6:07. Penalties—None.
Shots on Goal—Florida 4-12-7—23. Pittsburgh 3-11-13—27. Power-play opportunities—Florida 1 of 2; Pittsburgh 0 of 4. Goalies—Florida Bobrovsky 26-10-2 (27 shots-25 saves). Pittsburgh Jarry 14-16-4 (23-18).
A—17,967 (18,387).
T—2:30.
that you want to build over the year,” Maurice said after practice Tuesday. “Whether you’re the underdog or the favorite, you’ve got to win road games. We feel good on the road.”