Bobrovsky becomes fastest player to get 400 NHL wins, Panthers defeat Rangers

NEW YORK -- Sergei Bobrovsky became the fastest goalie to 400 wins in NHL history by making 24 saves in the Florida Panthers 3-1 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Bobrovsky got to 400 wins in 707 games. Henrik Lundqvist, who was in the building Thursday, was previously the fastest to reach the milestone, getting to it in 727 games.

Bobrovsky is the 14th NHL goalie with 400 wins, including the fourth who went undrafted in the NHL Draft era (since 1963), joining Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph and Tony Esposito.

"The moments when you put the gear on and go out and play in the NHL, that's so special," Bobrovsky said. "Not many people can go through that. I appreciate that and value that. I want to be in my best possible shape to take the best out of it. It's all little pieces. I've been long enough in hockey, in professional sport, so I've got my preparation. I'm still developing, and I still enjoy the game like a little kid."

Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers (5-3-1), who defeated the Rangers in six games in the 2024 Eastern Conference Final before winning the Stanley Cup by defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Final.

"We just beat a really good team, a really balanced team, good goalie, good defense, good forwards, good power play," Bobrovsky said. "It's a big moment for us, an important moment to build the chemistry and the confidence in the locker room for the season."

Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers (5-1-1), who lost in regulation for the first time this season. The Rangers had a four-game winning streak and six-game point streak end.

"I didn't like the whole night," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Everything tonight goes into a bag where it wasn't good enough. You could talk about the 5-on-5 play, you could talk about the defense, the offense, the power play, the penalty kill. If you're being honest about it, none of it was really good enough."

Lundell gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead 44 seconds into the first period, when Sam Reinhart found him wide open below the left hash marks for a one-timer.

Verhaeghe extended the lead to 2-0 at 2:42, scoring from the left face-off circle for his first goal of the season.

"They're a good team, but it doesn't really matter who we played tonight because we would have given the team chances," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said.

Florida's first-period goals both came off New York turnovers. Lafreniere lost the puck in the attacking zone, leading to a rush down the ice the other way and Lundell scoring. Reilly Smith lost the puck in the defensive zone, leading to Verhaeghe's goal.

The Rangers allowed three goals in the first period in their first six games.

"We haven't been particularly defensively oriented here; tonight we would have to be," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "I think they were at 5.17 for goals [for] per game coming in and we're missing our Selke [Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov] down the middle, so we had to play a really hard defensive game and when that happens you get some chances."

Lafreniere made it 2-1 at 4:44. Adam Fox protected the puck on the right-wing wall and found Lafreniere cutting through the left circle. Lafreniere deked to his backhand and tucked the puck past Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky stopped Jonny Brodzinski on a breakaway at 5:45, Filip Chytil on a breakaway at 6:33 and in the slot seven seconds later, and Kreider twice in front of the net on a power play at 15:12.

His right skate save on Vincent Trocheck at 6:15 of the second period also preserved the one-goal lead and might have been his most timely save of the night.

"The puck was the right there and I just threw as much as possible [at it]," Bobrovsky said. "Luckily it hit my toe."

The Panthers scored less than a minute later. Bennett extended the lead to 3-1 at 6:59 with a high-slot redirection of Niko Mikkola's shot from the left circle.

Bennett has goals in three straight games and leads the Panthers with six. They have all come in the high danger zone, the most in the NHL from that area on the ice.

"He's taking control," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "He's skating well with the puck. When our line is playing puck possession, give and go, supporting each other, I think we can be really effective. He's gotten off to a great start."

The Rangers had a 6-on-4 power play with Shesterkin pulled for an extra skater at 16:57 of the third period but couldn't score. They were 0-for-4 on the power play.

"I thought that they were better in the first, I thought that they were better in the second, and they were better in the third," Laviolette said. "We're better than that and we didn't play that way tonight."

NOTES: Florida played its seventh straight game without Barkov (lower body), who could return Saturday against the New York Islanders. … Rangers forward Artemi Panarinhad an assist on Lafreniere's goal to extend his point streak to seven games (six goals, eight assists). … The Rangers sent forward Matt Rempe to Hartford of the American Hockey League following the game. Rempe was a healthy scratch Thursday for the fifth time in seven games.