In Glendale, the Florida Panthers outscored the Arizona Coyotes, 3-1, in the first period on Friday night. That was pretty much it. The two teams skated back and forth for 40 minutes and the Panthers walked off with a 3-1 win.
Florida took a 2-0 lead when Patric Hornqvist and Sam Bennett scored 10 seconds apart.
“We’re going to enjoy this one, because we’ve got a tough one the next one (Colorado Avalanche),” Brunette said.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the Panthers win.
“I thought the guys did a great job to score two goals right away that give us the lead,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s a big win for us on the road, two points, and we’re happy and we’ll move on.”
Phil Kessel hit for a power play goal for Arizona.
“They’re tough to play against, they all have skill and they move the puck so quick, it’s hard to get pressure on their `D,'” the Coyotes’ Nick Schmaltz said. “They create a lot of rushes … and I don’t think we generated enough from the start.”
The Coyotes dropped to 5-19-2.
“Those two goals in 10 seconds and the [Reinhart] penalty-kill goal,” were the difference,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said. “When you play against a team like that, you know they will have a few chances, but we couldn’t get ours.”‘
Sam Reinhart scored off the power play late in the first period to get the Panthers the 3-1 lead and final score.
“That power-play goal was probably the biggest because it got us up by two, and `Bob’ closed the door from there on it,” Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette said. “He was excellent. You can tell a lot of times when he’s zoned in, and I thought he was.”
Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves in the Arizona loss.
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