Bobrovsky makes 27 saves, Panthers top Wild in shootout

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in a shootout at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

"I think we pulled the rope in the same direction, and it's so much fun to be part of it," Bobrovsky said.
Eetu Luostarinen scored for Florida (27-23-6), which is 4-1-0 in its past five games. Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov scored in the shootout.
"It was a hard grind today," Lundell said. "It took 65 minutes plus a shootout, but [a] really big win for us."

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 30th goal of the season, and Filip Gustavsson made 33 saves for Minnesota (28-20-5), which has lost four of its past five games and is 1-1-1 on a season-long seven-game homestand.
"All of us need to find a way to fight through and get a dirty goal, find a way to score, make an uneasy play, dig deep, and I think if all of us can do that," Kaprizov said. "If we find our game, get back to the basics, get back to playing the way we play, we can find a way to win and ultimately start winning some of these games."
Luostarinen gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 2:06 of the second period, tipping in a point shot by Gustav Forsling.
Kaprizov tied it 1-1 at 5:15 when he took a pass from Zuccarello in the high slot, carried the puck into the left face-off circle and scored high stick side.

Brandon Montour appeared to give Florida a 2-1 lead at 3:00 of the third period with a one-timer from the point during a 5-on-3 power play, but the goal was waved off on the ice for incidental contact made with Gustavsson by Matthew Tkachuk.
"He hit me with his elbow there in the head and I didn't think I was outside of the crease, so I think they made the right call," Gustavsson said. "… It's hard for me to pick up that puck when your head is 90 degrees to the left."
The Panthers finished the game 0-for-7 with the man-advantage but were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. They have allowed one power-play goal in their past five games (17 opportunities).
"There wasn't a lot of flow in that game," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "... Both teams' penalty kill was really good, both teams' goalies were really good on the penalty kill. That's the important part. Both teams will think they had opportunities to shoot pucks that they probably didn't on the power play. So, it gets to even."
The Wild outshot the Panthers 3-0 in overtime.
Bobrovsky made a save on Kaprizov when he attempted a between-the-legs shot 21 seconds into overtime before making a save on Jonas Brodin at 3:48 with Joel Eriksson Ek in front. He then made a save on a one-timer by Jared Spurgeon from the slot after he received a centering pass by Matt Boldy from behind the net with 14 seconds remaining.
"The passer made a good play before," Bobrovsky said of his save on Spurgeon. "He put me down and made a good pass, so I was able to put my body over."

Minnesota has been outscored 15-7 in its past five games and has not scored more than two goals in a game in that span.
"Not talking about the offense anymore," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Honestly, why? We talked to the group about that, too. If we continue to talk, 'We can't score, we can't score, we can't score,' eventually you'll think you can't score.
"We're going to score the way we score. We're going to get to the net, we're going to play 5-on-5. When we do that, we're going to catch some more breaks. … We've just got to keep grinding away."
NOTES:Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno left the game at 6:54 of the second period with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot by Forsling. Evason expects him to play Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche. … Luostarinen has 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 56 games, tying his career high set last season in 78 games. …The Wild have not allowed a power-play goal in four straight games (11 opportunities). … Kaprizov is the third player in Minnesota history to have consecutive 30-goal seasons, joining Marian Gaborik and Brian Rolston, who each did it in three straight seasons (2005-06 to 2007-08). …Wild forward Ryan Reaves, who was a healthy scratch Saturday, played in his 800th NHL game.