RECAP: Panthers 2, Kraken 1 (SO)

SEATTLE – It was a late night for the fans back in South Florida.

Thankfully, everyone that stayed up is heading to bed smiling.

Led by a strong defensive effort, the Florida Panthers kicked off their five-game road trip with a 2-1 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.

Improving to 18-9-2, the Panthers also extended their point streak to seven games.

“We’re going to be out for 12 days, so you don’t want the first three days to be grumpy,” head coach Paul Maurice said of starting the trip off on the right foot. “It’s good to get a win. Everybody feels good. They’ll use their time off in between games on this trip to recover.”

Despite a long travel day from the Atlantic to the Pacific on Monday, the Panthers had plenty of jump in the first period, amassing tons of zone time in the opening 20 minutes.

But even with the Panthers boasting a 13-6 advantage in scoring chances, it was the Kraken that broke the ice in the first period. Set free on a breakaway, Chandler Stepheson fired a wrist shot that clipped off Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove and into the net to make it 1-0 at 15:39.

In the second period, the Panthers were finally rewarded.

After a great defensive play from Nate Schmidt sent the action the other way, Aleksander Barkov teed up a pass from Sam Reinhart and blasted a blistering one-timer past Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord and into the back of the cage to even the score 1-1 at 18:59.

Pushing his point streak to seven games, Barkov has netted five goals in that stretch.

“It was really the whole night pretty much,” the captain said of trying to break through Seattle’s defense. “They played tight defense, blocked a lot of shots. They had good box-outs and made it hard to get to the net. We stuck with the game plan for 60 minutes.”

In the third period, neither team could break through.

That being said, the Panthers were in full control, surrendering just four shots on goal.

Heading into overtime, the Kraken had mustered just 15 shots in the game.

In the extra frame, Bobrovsky continued to stand tall for the Panthers, including making a game-saving stop on a point-blank backhand shot from Kraken scoring leader Jared McCann.

Earning his 13^th win of the season, Bobrovsky finished with 17 saves.

“There was some quiet saves there through traffic that were very difficult that people wouldn’t really notice,” Maurice said of Bobrovsky, who’s allowed one goal or fewer in three of his last four starts. “He was right on it. He’s been good for us this year. He’s got funny numbers. His numbers aren’t great, but his game is good. He makes the saves when we need him to, for sure.”

In the shootout, Barkov added another clip to his personal highlight reel.

Drawing first blood for the Panthers in the skills completion, the Finnish wizard faked a between-the-legs shot before beating Daccord with a filthy backhand in the first round.

"I've done it before,” said Barkov, who’s converted on nearly 50% of shootout attempts in his career. “I know on some goalies who challenge you, it should work. Obviously, their goalie is really good, and I had to come up with something there."

With Bobrovsky stopping both Kraken shooters he faced, Reinhart locked in the 2-1 win for the Panthers when lured out Daccord before lifting the puck into the net in the second round.

On a trip like this, you can’t ask for a better start than two points.

“We obviously wanted to get the first one, and we got the first one,” Barkov said. “Now, we just need to recover, get some sleep and be ready.”

THEY SAID IT

“It was a tight game. I thought we played great. We played strong offensively. We kept the puck. They defended well. In those kinds of games, it’s all about focus and concentration because every moment could the biggest moment of the game.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

“I thought we did a pretty good job on some of the rush [chances] against. They’ve got a skilled rush game. We did a good job eliminating those things.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- Sergei Bobrovsky has tied Curtis Joseph (190) for the seventh-most road wins in NHL history.

- Aleksander Barkov won a team-high 12 face-offs.

- Sam Bennett logged a team-high six hits.

- The Panthers surrendered just four scoring chances in the third period.

- The Panthers led 13-3 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when A.J. Greer was deployed.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It's time to hop a quick flight to Vancouver.

Trying to stretch their point streak to eight games, the Panthers will drop the puck against the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, visit FloridaPanthers.com/CatsOnTap.