Recap: Reinhart, Bobrovsky lead Panthers to 4-1 victory over Sharks

Cats finally land elusive three-game winning streak

Sam Reinhart scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks at FLA Live Arena.

Bobrovsky got the Panthers to the locker room after a not so great opening period only down a goal.

The Sharks out-shot the Cats 15-11, had the only power play, and got on the board when Alexander Barabanov lit the lamp at the 5:49 mark by potting a rebound after Radko Gudas blocked Erik Karlsson’s shot.

After Florida misfired on some open looks in the first, Sam Reinhart evened it up after he took a stretch pass from Marc Staal and instead of passing, solved Kaapo Kahkonen’s glove with a wrister from the center of the right circle.

Reinhart gave the Sharks just the tip to put the Panthers ahead with 41 seconds left in the middle frame. Forced into a turnover by Reinhart, Karlsson coughed the puck up on the boards to Anton Lundell, who crossed to Eetu Luostarinen. As he was falling down, Luostarinen was able to feed Reinhart in front and he redirected the puck with the heel of his stick along the ice through Kahkonen’s five-hole

Bobrovsky stopped all nine San Jose shots in the third to pick up his 350th career win and Eric Staal bagged a pair of shorthanded goals into an empty net with Aaron Ekblad off serving a double minor for high-sticking. Luostarinen drew the lone assist on Staal first’s goal to pick up his second helper of the night.

The win pulled the Panthers within one point of the Pittsburgh Penguins and two points of the Washington Capitals in the wild card race. Florida has played four more games than Pittsburgh and one more than Washington.

Teeth & Tales

• It took them well over half the campaign, but the Panthers finally posted their first three-game winning streak of the season. The Cats are also four games above NHL .500 for the first time in 2022-23.
• Sergei Bobrovsky became the 25th goaltender in NHL history to reach 350 wins. Bobrovsky has the third-most wins among active goalies behind Marc-Andre Fleury (536) and Jonathan Quick (367).
• Erik Karlsson’s assist gave him 70 points on the season. Karlsson became the fastest NHL defenseman to reach 70 points in 33 years.
• Eric Staal became the fourth Panther to score two shorthanded goals in the same game, joining Olli Jokinen, Radek Dvorak and Tom Fitzgerald. Staal’s goals 34 seconds apart were the fastest two third-period goals in team history, beating Vincent Trocheck’s two in 38 seconds on April 2, 2015. Staal is the seventh Cat to hit double-digit goals this season.
• Although Brandon Montour saw his franchise-record 10-game point streak for defensemen come to an end, it certainly wasn’t for a lack of trying. Montour registered five shots, three hits and two blocks in 24:40 TOI.
• Kaapo Kahkonen delivered a quality start for his club in the loss, finishing with 28 saves on 40 shots faced.
• I’d send you to our sister site Feat The Fin for the other side of Florida’ season series sweep, but they’ve closed down.