The Florida Panthers — in part out of necessity, in part due to performance — have been riding Sergei Bobrovsky in net for the better part of the past month and a half.
The veteran goaltender and two-time Vezina Trophy winner, who has had his share of ups and downs during his Panthers tenure, has appreciated this extended run of playing time.
And he put together one of his latest solid performances to help the Panthers to a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday afternoon to begin a three-game road trip.
“Things are coming together,” Bobrovsky said.
The Panthers (21-20-4) have now won five of their past seven games, which is their best seven-game stretch of the season.
Florida, at 46 points, is three points behind the New York Islanders for the Eastern Conference’s final wild card spot. Buffalo falls to 21-19-2.
“We got what we came to get — two points,” forward Anton Lundell said. “We played really good today. We did a lot of good things.”
It started with Bobrovsky. He stopped 28 of 29 shots he faced against the Sabres, including the first 24 that came his way before Alex Tuch broke up Bobrovsky’s shutout bid with 8:33 left in regulation.
In total, Bobrovsky has started 15 of the Panthers’ past 19 games. Florida has gone 8-7-0 in those games, including wins in four of his past five games in net. He has a .913 save percentage (430 for 471) over this run that dates back to Dec. 8.
Bobrovsky’s extended playing time has been due to a combination of Bobrovsky finally getting hot and fellow goaltender Spencer Knight being sidelined twice during this stretch, first with an illness and now with an injured reserve stint for an undisclosed injury. Knight is eligible to come off injured reserve Tuesday.
“We need it,” coach Paul Maurice said of Bobrovsky’s goaltending run. “We need it and he probably needs it. This is his first run of the year where he’s getting a bunch of games and he’s into a good rhythm. We need that kind of goaltending. He’s battling in the net. He’s a little bit acrobatic and he’s intense. Guys like that. It looks good from the bench. He’s making big saves and everybody’s kind of rallied around him.”
On Monday, the offense backed up Bobrovsky with a goal in each period before Buffalo got on the scoreboard.
Defenseman Brandon Montour put Florida up 1-0 about four minutes into the game when he tipped in a rebound past Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Montour, who the Panthers acquired fromt he Sabres in April 2021, is in midst of a breakout season. He has already set a single-season career-high with 28 assists and his 36 points through 43 games are one shy of his career high of 37 set in 81 games with Florida last season.
Sam Bennett put Florida up 2-0 midway through the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle. It was Bennett’s 10th goal of the season, making him the fifth Panthers player this season with double-digit goals.
And Lundell made it 3-0 just 34 seconds into the third period when he scored on an odd-man rush after taking a cross-ice feed from linemate Sam Reinhart.
Carter Verhaeghe added an empty-net goal with 1:38 left to play, his 20th goal of the season.
All-Star winger Matthew Tkachuk had three primary assists. That extends his point streak to a season-long seven games and gives him 34 assists and 56 points on the season.
“That game we played,” Maurice said, “it’s closer to the game that we need to play.”
Up next
Florida has the chance to get its first three-game win streak of the season on Tuesday when its faces the Toronto Maple Leafs to complete the first of three back-to-backs this month. It’s the first matchup of the season between Florida and Toronto.
The Panthers then cap this three-game road trip Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.
