Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) shoots between New York Rangers defensemen Adam Fox (23) and Ryan Lindgren (55) during the third period of an NHL hockey game on Monday, March 4, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Lomberg scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Sam Reinhart scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on Monday night in a matchup of first-place teams.
Anton Lundell also scored, Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling each had two assists as the Panthers won their fifth straight and 11th in the last 12 games. Florida leads the NHL with 42 wins and 88 points.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves to improve to 31-11-2 this season, including 15-6-1 on the road. The 35-year-old has 391 career wins.
“He’s been freakishly consistent this year,″ Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of his veteran goaltender. ”We’ve done a pretty good job of not asking him to be the best player on the ice most nights but he’s just found a way to do that for us.”
Since Dec. 23, Florida is 24-4-2. The Panthers also have a league-leading 21 road wins and 44 road points.
“We were faster as the game went on,″ Maurice added. ”It was a good road game.”
Will Cuylle and Chris Kreider scored for Metropolitan Division-leading New York, which lost for the third time in four games after a 10-game winning streak. The Rangers also had their six-game home winning streak snapped. Igor Shesterkin finished with 25 saves.
After a turnover in the neutral zone, Lomberg skated down the left wing and took a wrist shot that fooled Shesterkin at 6:11 of the third to snap a 2-2 tie with his fifth goal of the season.
”Great arena. The fans were loud and it was exciting,” Lomberg said of the showdown atmosphere. “We knew it was going to be a big one.”
Lundell added an empty-netter in the final minute to seal the win.
Cuylle put the Rangers ahead 1-0 with his 11th goal on the power-play with 3:21…
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