Panthers Continue To Roll Against Playoff Rivals, Bobrovsky Reaches 400 Wins

Paul Maurice said at Wednesday’s practice that the games his team has liked the most this year have been against their playoff rivals.

Coach is right. The Florida Panthers have two wins against the Boston Bruins in this young season, and a win against the Vegas Golden Knights in a 2023 Stanley Cup Final rematch.

Thursday night followed that pattern.

Facing the New York Rangers in their first matchup since Florida beat them in the Eastern Conference finals a few month ago, the Cats stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first 2:42 of the game.

Sam Reinhart fed Anton Lundell a juicy pass from the corner for the young Fin to tap in 44 seconds into the game.

Carter Verhaeghe, still looking for his first goal since signing an eight-year extension on opening night, fired a wrister from the right faceoff dot past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin for the 2-0 lead. The goal was set up by Gustav Forsling, who prevented the Rangers from clearing out of their own zone.

Alexis Lafrenière got one back for the Rangers a couple minutes later when he backhanded a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Sam Bennett gave the Panthers some cushion seven minutes into the second period when he tipped in a slapshot from Niko Mikkola.

The Panthers handed New York their first regulation loss of the season. The Blueshirts came into Thursday with a a +15 goal differential in just six games. They also came in playing excellent five-on-five hockey, outscoring opponents 20-7. On Thursday, all three goals they allowed were five-on-five.

400 For Bobrovsky

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky came into Tuesday with 399 career wins. It would have been nice to do it in front of a near-sellout home crowd. Instead, he allowed five goals on 16 shots and was chased from the game after two periods.

Thursday, his task was no easier. His job? Face a potent New York Rangers offense that was averaging 4.4 goals per game.

The second shot the Rangers got to the net was a goal from Alexis Lafrenière. After that, Bobrovsky settled in. Oh, did he settle in.

The Rangers would throw 23 more shots at him, including nine high-danger shots, according to Natural Stat Trick.

He stopped all of them.

Bobway > Broadway pic.twitter.com/fUnfRyYkYi

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 25, 2024

The 36-year-old is the fastest goalie to reach 400 wins, doing so in 707 games. The second on that list? Legendary Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. He did it in 727 games.

“It’s special,” Bobrovsky said. “If you look at the list, those guys are legends. It’s definitely a privilege to be on the same (list) with them.”

Matthew Tkachuk was glowing when speaking about Bobrovsky, calling him “the backbone” of the team.

“What he’s done, not many people have,” Tkachuk said. “What an incredible goalie, what an incredible competitor. Just an amazing guy and teammate. I’m so lucky to be able to play with him, so lucky to be able to learn from him.”