Bobrovsky, Panthers shut down visiting Kings 3-0
The shutout was Bobrovsky's first against the Los Angeles franchise
The Florida Panthers looked like they enjoyed their first game in Sunrise in a couple weeks.
Hosting the Los Angeles Kings, Florida jumped out to an early lead and clamped down on the advantage, skating to a 3-0 victory.
In a game many expected to be low scoring, featuring two of the more defensive-minded teams in the NHL, it took less than five minutes for the Panthers to pick up the opening goal.
Matthew Tkachuk took a feed from Dmitry Kulikov in the slot and after driving toward the net, spun around and quickly sent the puck to Sam Bennett at the far post.
Bennett made no mistake, picking up his 16th goal of the season to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
That’s how the score would remain until early in the third period.
With Florida on a brief two-man advantage, Tkachuk’s point shot went off the leg of Vladislav Gavrikov and wide of the net, but the rebound off the back boards went straight to Sasha Barkov at the side of the net.
A quick re-direction past a sprawling Darcy Kuemper gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead at the 4:43 mark.
Bobrovsky took care of the rest, picking up his second shutout of the season and the 46th of his career, and Tkachuk sealed the victory with an empty-net goal.
On to Chicago.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Bobrovsky finished with 29 saves, including all three high danger shots sent his way.
The shutout was the first in his career against Los Angeles.
After going 20 games without scoring, Bennett has picked up goals in three of his past five outings.
Rookie Mackie Samoskevich matched a new career high six shots on goal. He previously hit that mark on Dec. 10 against Seattle.
Tkachuk finished with a pair of primary assists. He’s now got multi-point games in two of his past three, racking up six points during that span.
Sam Reinhart also picked up an assist, his first in 12 games.
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