Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves — including two on breakaways — and added two more stops in a shootout as the Florida Panthers defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in Saint Paul, Minn.
Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov scored in the shootout for Florida, which got a goal in regulation from Eetu Luostarinen.
Mats Zuccarello converted his shootout chance for Minnesota, but Bobrovsky stopped Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau to nail down the victory.
Florida won despite going 0-for-7 on its power play. Minnesota went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson was outstanding, finishing with 33 saves.
Florida won for the fourth time in five games while Minnesota slipped to 1-3-1 in its past five contests.
Kaprizov leads Minnesota in goals (30) and points (63). His 33 assists are tied for the team lead with Zuccarello, who picked up a point on Kaprizov’s goal in regulation.
Wild winger Marcus Foligno departed from the game in the second period after a shot by Florida’s Gustav Forsling struck his left leg.
Winger Grigori Denisenko, Florida’s first-round pick in 2018, was recalled and inserted into the lineup for just the 21st game of his NHL career. Colin White was a healthy scratch.
The Panthers got on the board with 2:06 expired in the second period as Forsling’s flip from the point was redirected by Luostarinen, with the puck squirting in between Gustavsson’s pads. It was Luostarinen’s 12th tally of the season.
Minnesota tied the score just over three minutes later. Kaprizov, inside the left circle but skating away from the net, stopped and elevated a bullet shot over Bobrovsky.
The score remained tied 1-1 after two periods but only because Bobrovsky thwarted a pair of breakaways — one each by Connor Dewar and Matt Boldy.
For a split second, Florida took a 2-1 lead on Brandon Montour’s shot from the point with 16:58 left in the third. However, the goal was waved off due to “incidental contact” — Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk’s left elbow grazing the head of Gustavsson.
Minnesota had a big chance with 6:32 left in the third, but Jake Middleton’s shot went off the left post.
Neither team scored in the third period even though the Panthers had a five-on-three power play for 43 seconds.
In overtime, the teams played the first 3:38 without a stoppage. With 14 seconds left, Bobrovsky made a glove save to rob Jared Spurgeon.
In the last seconds of overtime, Montour drove to the net. His shot went in as he crashed into Gustavsson, but the puck crossed the line too late.
–Field Level Media
