In Sunrise, the visiting Minnesota Wild hit for power play markers on Friday night in a 6-4 win over the Panther.
Count ’em, five power play goals.
“I thought our competitive level was where it needed to be; I thought we played a smarter game than we did last night,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “The resiliency of the group; it was a big, heavy, hard, physical game with a lot of adversity. … But I really liked the intensity level that we played with, combined with the focus level.’’
Compete level usually is high with five strikes.
Marc-Andre Fleury got the start for the Wild, left the ice with 10 saves in the middle frame with an apparent injury after a collision. Fleury was protecting a 4-1 lead when he departed the ice.
Filip Gustavsson made 21 saves in relief.
“The ‘next-man-up’ mentality has always been big for this group, and we have been facing adversity all year,” Minnesota’s Brandon Duhaime said. “So, nothing changed for us. A lot of guys contributed. The biggest thing for us is consistency. We have to carry this momentum.”
Kirill Kaprizov hit for a double in the win, his first came at 2:49 of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead, it came on the first power strike for the Wild.
The Panthers dropped to 27-14-4 off their fourth straight loss.
“We tried to come back, just fell short today,” the Panthers Aaron Ekblad said. “Obviously we took a lot of penalties and that is tough, getting behind in a game like that against a good team. It’s never easy. Our PK has been a strong suit for us, but they did a good job.”
In the middle frame, Ekblad tied the game, 1-1, 38 seconds into the stanza.
The Wild then hit for three goals through the midway point of the second period.
Ryan Hartman scored off the power play for the a 2-1 advantage at 3:22. with a one-
Brock Faber scored the Wild’s third power play goal of the game at 7:36 for a 3-1 lead.
For good measure, Mats Zuccarello added the fourth special teams strike at 10:32 for a 4-1 lead..
“The things we are real good at, we were not and it starts with face-offs and clears,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We were behind it. Their first goal was a nice play, but the others were just pucks to the net. We’ve got to get some blocks. [The penalty kill] won us a whole lot of game for us this year, but it wasn’t very good tonight.”
The Panthers got one back at 18:27 for a 4-2 count on the scoreboard headed to the third period on a marker from Eetu Luostarinen.
Minnesota replied with 41 seconds of fresh ice used in the third period when Kaprizov collected his double, on the power play, for a 5-2 lead, and the eventual game-winner.
The Panthers tried tor ally back with a pair of goals in 8 seconds to trim the deficit to 5-4.
Anton Lundell started the rally with marker at 8:05 to make it 5-3.
Gustav Forsling potted the second of the pair for a 5-4 deficit at 8:23.
Hartman sealed the 6-4 win with empty-net goal with 12 seconds left on the clock.
Sergei Bobrovsky was the Panthers starter before getting the hook after making 11 saves and yielding four goals.
Anthony Stolarz made nine saves in a mop up role.
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