SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves as the Florida Panthers ended the Golden Knights’ three-game winning streak Tuesday night with a 2-1 victory.
Ryan Lomberg and Aleksander Barkov each scored a goal for the Panthers, winners of won two straight as they kept pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Florida is 4-1-0 all-time against the Golden Knights in Sunrise.
Shea Theodore scored the lone goal for the Knights. Adin Hill turned in another strong game in goal, making 40 saves.
In his previous start on Friday, in his 100th NHL game, Hill set the franchise record with 47 saves in a win against the Devils. Hill came into Tuesday’s game 6-1-0 since the All-Star break.
“We chased the game the whole night and never caught up to them,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We stayed in the game, which was good. … But you got to be ready when the puck drops. And they were. We weren’t.”
Florida opened the scoring at 4:25 on a blistering snapshot off the stick of Lomberg for his ninth goal.
“We needed a big start, and I think the guys responded,” Lomberg said. “For the last chunk of games, there has been no doubt that guys are going to show up. These are all big games and this was a big win for us. No surprise the guys came ready to play.”
The Panthers extended their lead at 4:05 of the second when Barkov one-timed a pass from Anthony Duclair from 5 feet in front.
Even though the two teams traded a bunch of scoring chances, it remained 2-0 until Theodore fired off a shot through traffice and from just inside the blue line to beat Bobrovsky halfway through the second.
Bobrovsky ended up making 10 saves in the third period.
“I think we could have played better especially in that second,” Barkov said, “but (Bobrovsky) was excellent in the game, as always, and kept us in it. It is huge to have a goalie like that, playing at a level like that. It is amazing and we are really confident playing in front of him.”
