RECAP: Bobrovsky 'unbelievable' as Panthers secure shootout win vs. Wild

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Sergei Bobrovsky was on another level in the North Star State.
Making 27 saves -- and two big stops in the shootout -- Bobrovsky helped the Panthers open their four-game road trip with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.
"Bob was unbelievable today," Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. "He kept us in the game, made some big saves and pretty much gave us the two points."

Improving to 27-23-6, Florida now sits just one point out of a playoff spot.
"We go back-to-back, but we get to feel good tonight," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "We'll get a little more sleep in the morning, and everyone's excited for the game tomorrow [at St. Louis]."
Following a scoreless first period, the Panthers opened the scoring in the second when Eetu Luostarinen tipped a shot from Gustav Forsling past Filip Gustavsson to make it 1-0 at 2:06.
Having a breakout season, Luostarinen has now matched the career-high 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) he posted last season, needing 22 fewer games to hit that mark this time around.
Just over three minutes later, the Wild pulled even when Kirill Kaprizov sniped an wicked shot past Bobrovsky from the left circle to make it 1-1 at 5:15 for his 30th goal of the campaign.
Making more than a few highlight-reel stops in the middle frame, Bobrovsky's biggest save came just past the midway point of the period when he denied Matt Boldy on a breakaway.
That was just one of nine high-danger saves for Bobrovsky during the game.
"I feel great," said Bobrovsky, who's gone 8-3-1 with a .919 save percentage over his last 13 starts. "Everybody pulled the rope in the same direction, and it's so much fun to be part of it."
On an early power play in the third period, Brandon Montour appeared to break the tie and put the Panthers on top, but the goal came off the board due to incidental contact with the goalie.
With the action eventually getting to overtime, Bobrovsky made three saves in the extra frame, including stretching out to absolutely rob Jared Spurgeon of a goal with roughly 12 seconds left on the clock.

"The passer made a good play before," said Bobrovsky, recalling the spectacular sequence. "He put me down and made a good pass, so I was just able to put my body over there."
After Mats Zuccarello scored in the shootout for the Wild, Lundell, showing off some great hands, answered with a goal for the Panthers. In Round 2, Bobrovsky, getting some revenge, denied Kaprizov's attempt, and Barkov beat Gustavsson to put the pressure on Minnesota.
Coming up in the clutch, Bobrovsky then stopped Frederick Gaudreau to lock in the 2-1 win.
"We knew it was going to be a very good team against us today," Lundell said. "We saw that from the first period that they were ready to play. A hard one today. It took 65 minutes and a shootout, but a really big win for us."

CATS QUOTES

"The only thing I can say is that it's big points for us. At this time of the year, it's already like playoffs. It's huge points." - Sergei Bobrovsky on the importance of getting two points
"Both penalty kills were really good, and both team's goalies were really good on the penalty kill. That's the important part, but both teams will think they had opportunities to shoot pucks that they probably didn't on the power play."- Paul Maurice on the special teams battle

CATS NOTES

• Eetu Luostarinen has four points (two goals, two assists) over his last four games.
  - Sergei Bobrovsky recorded the 30th shootout win of his career.
  - Josh Mahura blocked a team-high three shots.
  - Aleksander Barkov saw a team-high 28:21 of ice time.
  - Florida led 27-9 in shot attempts when Sam Bennett was on the ice at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?

With no time to catch their breath, the Panthers (27-23-6) will wrap up their back-to-back with a matchup against the St. Louis Blues (24-25-3) at Enterprise Center on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.