Red Bulls win season opener
Rangers fight back only to fall in shootout
For eight consecutive home games — including Saturday night’s 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers — the Florida Panthers orchestrated a symphony of victories, of lastsecond wins, of blowout thrashings, of goaltending excellence and of offensive firepower.
They stole games from elite teams and buried inferior ones. They executed on the power play and off the rush. Simply, the Panthers were nearly unbeatable at home since the All-Star break.
With Saturday night’s win against the Rangers, the Panthers set a new franchise record for consecutive home wins with eight. The previous high was seven straight games, set in 2015-16, when the Panthers won the Atlantic Division championship.
“We’ve been winning different ways throughout this stretch here,” goaltender Roberto Luongo said. “That’s what good teams do.”
Frank Vatrano scored a goal in his Panthers debut as Jonathan Huberdeau and Jamie McGinn also scored for the Panthers. Luongo withstood a strong Rangers attack in the first period to steady the Panthers and finish with 34 saves on Saturday night. Vincent Trocheck scored the gamedeciding goal for the Panthers in the third round of the shootout, one round after Aleksander Barkov beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist — who stopped 32 shots in his 800th career game, becoming the 15th goalie in NHL history to reach the milestone.
Trocheck swung wide to his left before deking and sliding a shot through Lundqvist’s legs.
Trocheck said he shot five-hole on Lundqvist when he faced him before, but felt enough confidence in his move to worry about his execution instead of Lundqvist’s reaction to it.
“Our guys played hard, made good plays with the puck, came back three times in this game,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get it done in the shootout.”
The Rangers largely controlled the first period, firing 15 shots on goal at Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo in the period. They had three shots in the first 90 seconds and seven of the game’s first eight shots. Kevin Hayes forced Luongo to make a save on a shorthanded breakaway.
But the Rangers couldn’t break through. So even when they were outplayed, the Panthers entered the dressing room with a lead courtesy of Huberdeau.
“We kept battling,” Lundqvist said. “We kept coming back in this game and gave ourselves the chance to almost win it. If I can mix in a save in the shootout, maybe we get a win.”
DEVILS 3, PREDATORS 2: Brian Boyle scored in the fifth round of the shootout to lift the New Jersey Devils to a victory over the host Nashville Predators. Boyle beat Nashville goalie Juuse Saros with a quick wrist shot from the slot on the blocker side.
—With the Associated Press
HARRISON, N.J. — Carlos Rivas scored two goals and the New York Red Bulls opened their MLS season with a 4-0 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.
Rivas slotted one past goalkeeper Jake Gleeson to make it 3-0 in the 80th minute and finished Connor Lade’s cross with a tapin in the 93rd minute to cap the scoring.
Ben Mines, a 17-year-old Homegrown Player making his MLS debut, opened the scoring in the 18th minute, finishing Alejandro Gamarra’s cross.
Bradley Wright-Phillips made it 2-0 in the 77th minute with a header off Sean Davis’ redirection of Vincent Bezecourt’s corner.
—Associated Press