In Sunrise, the Florida Panthers won their 10th straight home game to start the home campaign in a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Frank Vatrano hot for a pair of goals in the win.
“It was a group effort tonight,” Vatrano said. “I think we played a really good hockey game. They’re a really good team and we were ready for the challenge.”
The third period was a chaotic affair with both teams trying to hold off the other.
“We’re trying to make [home] an imposing place,” Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think we’re building off that and making this a really hard place to play. We just don’t want to be good at home, we want to be great, and tonight was another step.”
Minnesota could not quite get the tying goal and chased the lead throughout the match.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves in the Panthers win.
Florida improved to 13-2-3.
“Great hockey game,” Minnesota head coach Dean Evason said. “They’re a great team. We’re a great team, and it was a great hockey game. It was a fun game. We just came up a little short.”
The Wild dropped to 11-6-0.
“They’re a good team,” the Wild’s Kevin Fiala said. “There’s no secret. They play fast. It just didn’t work out for us tonight, but I liked our effort in the end, but still we could be better in the start. I think they dominated us in the start in both the first and second, and we can’t have that.”
Owen Tippett and Vatrano gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek scored around Vatrano’s second strike with the Panthers taking a 3-2 lead.
Carter Verhaeghe made it 4-2 for the Panthers in the third period.
Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno scored with the extra attacker to to make it 4-3.
“We’ve scored a couple 6-on-5 goals, so I think that it’s a good vibe,” Wild’s Jonas Brodin said. “I think everyone thought we still had a good chance to score. It’s tough to be down two goals, but we tried. We keep pushing. I don’t know how long was left there, like 40 seconds or something, we just keep pushing until the end of the whistle there.”
Sam Bennett hit for an empty net goal with 37 seconds left on the game clock.
The Wild’s Ryan Hartman scored with nine seconds left to make it 5-4.
Cam Talbot made 32 saves in the Wild loss.
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