Khudobin makes 49 saves, but Stars fall to Panthers in return

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Anton Khudobin made 49 saves for the Dallas Stars in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in their return at BB&T Center on Monday.

"That's his best performance," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "We wasted a great goaltending performance. I feel bad for Anton. That's the best game he's given us all year. That's probably an 8-1 game without Anton. Let's not be fooled by the empty-netter, 2-1. We won't be fooled by that. That's Anton's best performance by far."
The Stars played for the first time since Feb. 13 after having four home games postponed last week when extreme winter storms left hundreds of thousands in Texas without power and water.
Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle scored for the Panthers in the second period when Florida set its record for most shots on goal in one period with 29.
"It was fun to watch," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "Guys really had a lot of energy, had great speed. That was one of those periods that you'll always remember."
Chris Driedger made 24 saves in his fourth start in five games for Florida (12-3-2), which has won seven of its past 10.
Blake Comeau scored for Dallas (5-4-4), which started its season late because of NHL COVID-19 protocols. The Stars are 0-3-3 in its past six games.
It was the first of three games the Stars and Panthers will play here this week.
"Every game is different," Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. "Obviously, we don't want to go back and think about what happened before. For example, [the] Detroit [Red Wings], we beat them 7-2 (on Friday) and then the next game we lost 2-1. That can't happen again. We're going to be a lot more ready than we were against Detroit. Dallas is a great team. If you give them chances, they're going to capitalize. We've just got to keep doing what we did this whole game and do it again in the next game."
Comeau gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:29 of the first period with a short backhand after Driedger failed to control a rebound.

Ekblad tied it 1-1 at 8:41 of the second with a slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Yandle gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 18:18 when he scored unassisted with a slap shot from the point with Barkov screening Khudobin.
"Obviously, the only reason it goes in is because [Barkov] is in his eyes," Yandle said. "[Barkov] is a big body guy at the net, a guy who makes his living there. It was a great screen by him, and obviously a big goal."

Florida outshot Dallas 29-4 in the second period.
"We just fell apart," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. "It's sports, it happens, but it's not acceptable the way it happened. Just shift after shift we just cracked everywhere. We're not in the right spots and we turned the puck over in the wrong places all the time. We get long shifts out there, so we have to ice it or chip it out and we have to stay out even longer, so it's a bad circle."
Barkov scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds remaining for the 3-1 final.
The Panthers are 5-0-0 after a loss this season.
"We're a resilient team this year," defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. "A lot of competitors in the room. It's fun. We're bouncing back well, and that's what we need to do to be a really good team in this league."
NOTES: The Panthers had 28 shots on goal in the second period of a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 20, 2005. Their 29 shots in the second Monday are tied for the eighth-most in one period in NHL history. The Tampa Bay Lightning hold the record (33 in the second period of a 6-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 21, 2018). ... Florida has an NHL-high nine comeback victories this season, one more than the Pittsburgh Penguins. … Khudobin's 49 saves tied his NHL high, set Dec. 27, 2018, in a 2-0 victory against the Nashville Predators. … Linesman Devin Berg left the game in the second period after being hit by a puck.