“Really complete effort there to close up the road trip, we played a full [60 minutes],” Boqvist said. “They had a lot of [power-play] chances, but we stuck with it, stayed with it, and got two points here."
Said Florida coach Paul Maurice of Boqvist: "He’s earned it. We've used him on the left and right wing. He's played center for us. He's played with different people, but he's a really competitive guy, and I think that that line with [Anton Lundell] and [Carter] Verhaeghe creates quickness and some jump. You like to see the guys who've played hard all year in the first half get a little reward at this time and set themselves up for a really strong second half."
Sam Reinhart also scored, and Matthew Tkachuk had two assists for the Panthers (25-15-2), who had lost four of their past six games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.
Logan Cooley scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves for Utah (17-16-7), which has lost seven of eight (1-5-2), including four straight at home.
“It's a good team,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said of Florida. “I think defensively we did a lot of good things, and I like the effort of the guys. I like the passion and all of it. Offensively we need to be more connected.”
Reinhart gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:05 of the second period on a one-timer past Vejmelka off a pass from Tkachuk.
Boqvist extended it to 2-0 at 1:48 of the third period when his shot deflected off a Utah defender and trickled into the net.
Cooley cut it to 2-1 on the power play at 13:41, taking a pass from Clayton Keller and lifting it over the shoulder of Bobrovsky.
“They don't give you much, they play the right way the whole game,” said Cooley. “We're in it with these teams like [the Dallas Stars] and Florida. The goals are going to start to come. I just think we have to stay positive and take the positives out of it.”
Boqvist made it 3-1 at 17:59 with an empty-net goal.
Eetu Luostarinen also scored into an empty net at 19:38 for the 4-1 final.
“These teams are wired for us, and we have to be ready,” Maurice said. “I thought halfway through the first period, we got our game to go a little bit. But I liked our ability to stay focused and stay in the game."
NOTES: Bobrovsky earned his first career win against Utah and became the third goaltender to win against 33 different franchises. The others are Jake Allen and Darcy Kuemper (both with 33). … Reinhart scored his 67th power-play goal since joining the Panthers in 2021 and passed Scott Mellanby for the second most in franchise history.
