The Devils surged past Florida on Tuesday, serving a huge blow to the Panthers playoff hopes.
The Florida Panthers are running out of time.
Desperate for any points they can get in a race for a playoff spot, Florida lost a third straight game on Tuesday, losing to the New Jersey Devils 5-1 at Prudential Center.
Florida came out of the gates like gangbusters, keeping the Devils backed into their own zone for the first 90 seconds of the game, logging three shots on six attempts.
The game would eventually start to even out, and it would be the home team that got on the scoreboard first.
After a neutral zone takeaway by Connor Brown, Arseny Gritsyuk came into Florida’s zone and snapped a quick wrist shot over Sergei Bobrovsky’s blocker to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at the 12:10 mark.
Just under two and a half minutes later, and less than 10 seconds after a Panthers power play had expired, a zone keep by Uvis Balinskis found its way to Evan Rodrigues, who quickly found Anton Lundell in front of the net.
Lundell’s quick backhand shot sailed over the glove of Jacob Markstrom to tie the game at one.
The game wasn’t tied very long. Less than two minutes into the second period, a wide shot by Jack Hughes went off the boards and right to Dougie Hamilton, who one-timed the puck into a wide-open net to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead.
It wasn’t long before the Devils doubled their advantage.
Moments after Cody Glass was robbed by a great Bobrovsky glove save, he deflected a long shot by Lenni Hameenaho past Bob and into the back of the net to make the score 3-1 Jersey.
That’s how the score would remain until Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky for a sixth attacker, leading to an empty-net goal by Dawson Mercer after a miscue between Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand.
With over two minutes still remaining, Maurice pulled Bobrovsky again, and Simon Nemec took advantage and scored his ninth goal of the season to send Florida packing with a 5-1 defeat.
The Panthers have now lost three straight games, four of five and eight of their past ten.
On to Columbus.
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Photo caption: Mar 3, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, USA; New Jersey Devils center Cody Glass (12) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers during the second period at Prudential Center. (Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images)