1 week Ago By Field Level Media
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves and captain Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart each recorded a three-point performance, lifting the Florida Panthers to a 5-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. A two-time Vezina Trophy recipient, Bobrovsky turned aside 10 shots in the third period to preserve his first shutout of the season and the 45th of his career. Barkov scored a short-handed goal and set up two other tallies, while Reinhart notched three assists to extend his point streak to 10 games.
Mackie Samoskevich, Evan Rodrigues, Nate Schmidt and former Jets defenseman Dmitry Kulikov each scored a goal for the Panthers, who snapped a two-game skid. The teams will reconvene on Tuesday in Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves and defenseman Josh Morrissey was a minus-three while playing in his 600th career game for the Jets, who have lost two in a row after winning 15 of their first 17 to start the season.
Florida benefited from a fortunate bounce to open the scoring with 5:01 remaining in the first period. Gustav Forsling's cross-ice pass caromed off the stick of Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo and went into the net off the body of Samoskevich. The goal was Samoskevich's third of the season.
Schmidt also scored his third goal of the season to double the Panthers' advantage at 2:07 of the second period. He accomplished the feat by cleaning up a rebound after Sam Bennett's drive to the net. Rodrigues corralled a loose puck in front of the net following defenseman Aaron Ekblad's slap shot from the point and beat Hellebuyck to boost Florida's lead to 3-0 at 12:21 of the second period.
The goal was Rodrigues' fifth of the season and fourth in his past seven games. Barkov tacked on another goal just 2:15 later by winning the race to a rebound and burying a backhand past Hellebuyck. The goal was Barkov's third of the campaign.
Kulikov redirected a pass from Barkov past Hellebuyck to cap the scoring at 3:23 of the third period. This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission..
