In Newark Monday night, the Florida Panthers picked up a 3-2 win over the Devils.
Roberto Luongo made 23 saves as he became the second goalie in NHL history to win 200 games with two teams.
“I’m in a little bit of a rhythm right now and just trying to keep focused on playing the best I can on a daily basis,” Luongo said. “If you’re playing well you’re going to give your team a chance to win, and those wins and those milestones will come. It’s nice when you reach a certain milestone, but the focus is primarily on winning games and trying to 
get into the [Stanley Cup Playoffs].”
Jared McCann scored the game-winner in the eight minute of the third period to help the Panthers improve to 9-12-2 on the season.
Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck also had strikes for Florida.
“We needed a little bit of momentum, needed some confidence,” Trocheck said. “We talked about it before and after the game today that this is just one game. We can’t get too high or low, but winning a game like this certainly helps your confidence.”
After a scoreless first period the Panthers put one on the board and took that lead into the second period.
Florida pushed the play in the middle frame and the Devils had no real response.
“We wanted to play smart the whole game, try to play in their zone,” Barkov said. “They have highly skilled players, but I thought we played a pretty good game. We outshot them by a lot, played smart and got rewarded.”
Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt scored for New Jersey in the third period when there was a give and take by both clubs.
“Right now the team is playing better in front of me, so that helps a lot with the way I play; it’s a give and take. They feel better in front of me, and I feel better behind them. We have to stick to our systems. We’re learning them and you’re starting to see the results a bit as far as not giving as many odd-man scoring chances and breakaways,” Luongo said after the win.
[WATCH:Â All Panthers vs. Devils highlights]
Cory Schneider made 35 saves in the loss as the Devils dropped to 14-6-4.
“We weren’t happy with our response in the second,” Schneider said. “We got challenged a little bit to bounce back from probably our worst period of the year. In the second, it wasn’t much better. It probably couldn’t get much worse. We wanted to see a little more improvement to set the third period up for us.”
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