NEW YORK — Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves for his 400th career win, and the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 on Thursday.
Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe scored early first-period goals for Florida. Lundell opened the scoring 44 seconds in, beating Igor Shesterkin alone in the slot. Verhaeghe added to the Panthers’ lead at the 2:42 mark.
Alexis Lafreniere scored 4:44 into the game to halve Florida’s early lead, but it was the only time New York was able to beat Bobrovsky.
Sam Bennett gave Florida a two-goal lead 6:59 into the second period.
From there, Florida held on to win in a rematch of last spring’s Eastern Conference Final, which the Panthers won in six games.
Shesterkin finished with 26 saves for the Rangers.
New York: The Rangers lost in regulation for the first time after a 5-0-1 start.
Florida: The Panthers improved to 3-2-0 on the road after finishing with an Eastern Conference-best 26-10-5 away record last season.
Bobrovsky denied Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski on a breakaway at 5:47 of the first, then made a pad save on Filip Chytil at 6:35. He also stopped Chris Kreider from in close at 15:20 of the opening period.
Bobrovsky became the 14th goaltender in NHL history to reach the 400-win milestone. The 36-year-old netminder, in his sixth season with the Panthers, has a career record of 400-226-56 in 15 seasons. He also played for Philadelphia and Columbus. Bobrovsky is second in wins among active goalies behind Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, while the Panthers will remain in New York to play the Islanders on Saturday.
