*Photo from CBS News*
Needing wins by any means possible, the Florida Panthers got a cure for their woes. Aaron Ekblad had two assists, Sam Reinhart had two goals, and the Panthers defeated the New Jersey Devils with a 4-2 victory on Saturday in Newark.
Florida entered the game with losses in 3 of 4 games, but they've found success against the Devils routinely. The win improves the Panthers to 5-1-0 in their last 6 tilts against the Devils. When they play in Newark, the Panthers have gone 4-1-0 in the last 5 games at the Devils home base.
Getting the start for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, who improved to 18-5-1 against the Devils in his career. Bobrovsky turned aside 30 of the 32 shots he faced from the Devils, recording a .938 save percentage. His record now rises to 7-9-1 on the season.
Bobrovsky said of the win that "Obviously, they had a push, but I thought our guys kept our composure. They worked hard and they shut them down. Over the course of the regular season, there are different circumstances and different hurdles. I thought the guys did a great job to compete and fight."
The only goal of the first period came from Reinhart, who gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with his 20th goal of the season, this one coming on the power play. Gustav Forsling made it 2-0 when he scored 7:49 into the second period. John Marino scored to make it 2-1 to get the Devils on the board before Reinhart scored his second goal of the night to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead after two periods.
Late in the 3rd period, the Devils got closer. Erik Haula scored at the 16:30 mark of the period, cutting the deficit to 3-2 on his second goal of the season, assisted by Dougie Hamilton and Michael McLeod. With the net empty and 1:11 left on the clock, Carter Verhaeghe scored to ice the win for the Panthers, a 4-2 final.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said after the game that "I liked our first period an awful lot. I thought we had a good template of how we wanted to play the game. Then we got into a little trouble. After that, it was just will. Grind, block shots, spit it out, spit it in and get to the net."
While Bobrovsky started for the Panthers, Akira Schmid was in net for the Devils. Schmid took the loss, dropping to 5-3-0 on the season. He stopped 25 out of the 28 shots he saw from the Panthers, which was good for a .893 save percentage.
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said of the loss that "Again, we get behind right off the start. Take a penalty, they score a power-play goal. You look at a couple of the goals, they're not goals we want to give up. What was the strength of our team was really how well we play defensively. When you start to get a little frustrated offensively, you start to cheat. The backbone of our game has been how well we play defensively. We can't get away from that."
Up next, the Panthers keep the road trip going against the Boston Bruins on Monday night, with Bobrovsky the projected starter. The Devils resume action with a Tuesday home game against the Carolina Hurricanes, with Vitek Vanecek expected to start.
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