Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for his first shutout of the year to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-0 win over the host Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
It was also the first shutout of the year for the Panthers, who have won three of their last four games.
Detroit was shut out for the first time this year and has lost four of its last five after a 5-1 start to the season.
The game was scoreless for the first 39 minutes before Florida opened the scoring on a strange goal in the final minute of the second period.
With 51.1 seconds left in the second, Florida’s Steven Lorentz fired an innocent-looking shot from the left faceoff circle that deflected off the glove of Detroit goalie James Reimer, went off the crossbar, then went off Reimer and into the goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
It was the first goal of the season for Lorentz.
The score remained that way until the Red Wings pulled Reimer for an extra attacker with 1:40 remaining in the game.
After Florida cleared the zone, the Panthers took a 2-0 lead with 1:12 remaining on an empty-net goal by Anton Lundell, who fought off a couple of Detroit defenders and fired a shot from the boards that went underneath the crossbar. It was Lundell’s first goal of the season.
Detroit pulled Reimer (25 saves) again but couldn’t get anything past Bobrovsky in the final minute.
The best chance for the Red Wings came early in the third period, when the puck caromed from behind Bobrovsky to Michael Rasmussen, who had a half-empty net to shoot at. But Rasmussen half fanned on his shot and the puck hit the post to keep the game at 1-0.
Both teams struggled on the power play, going 0-for-5. Detroit out-hit Florida 21-9 and blocked 20 shots to 11 for Florida.
–Field Level Media
