Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves and Sam Reinhart scored a highlight-reel goal in the Florida Panthers’ 1-0 shutout over the visiting New Jersey Devils on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.
The Panthers are 4-1-0 in their last five games, and 8-2-1 in 11 home games.
The Devils are on a two-game losing streak, and were held scoreless for the first time this season.
After allowing five goals on only 15 shots in Monday’s 8-5 Panthers win over the Vancouver Canucks, Bobrovsky bounced back by stopping all 31 shots faced Thursday. It was Bobrovsky’s second shutout of the season, and his 51 career shutouts are tied for 28th-most in NHL history.
Jake Allen more than held up his own end of the goaltending duel, stopping 23 of 24 shots. It was a hard-luck loss for Allen, who is 7-3-0 with a .920 save percentage in 11 starts this season.
Allen was beaten only by Reinhart’s spectacular individual effort 12:58 into the first period. Taking the puck from the blue line into the circle, Reinhart deftly maneuvered the puck past Devils defenseman Luke Hughes and then quickly fired into the top shelf of the net.
Reinhart has 11 goals this season, and nine points (four goals, five assists) over a five-game points streak.
Florida controlled most of the action during a scoreless second period, until the Devils started to generate some offensive momentum during a pair of late power plays. Simon Nemec put a shot off the post, and Stefan Noesen had a pair of close-range chances stopped by Bobrovsky.
The Devils were 0-for-2 on the power play Thursday, and only 2-for-22 with the extra attacker over their last nine games.
New Jersey held a 12-4 shots advantage in the third period, but still couldn’t solve Bobrovsky even with the added pressure. The goalie was sharp until the very end, stopping Timo Meier’s shot in the last second of regulation.
Jesper Bratt led the Devils with six shots on goal.
–Field Level Media
