RECAP: Panthers 3, Sharks 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – Welcome back, Sergei Bobrovsky.

After missing the last two games to welcome his second child into the world, Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to backstop the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Winning five of their last six games, the Panthers now sit at 17-9-2.

“It’s a blessing to be a part of and to see how my second daughter was born,” Bobrovsky smiled. “It’s a unique experience. I’m happy to be there with my wife, and now I’m happy to be here with my other family.”

After racking up nine points during the recent two-game road trip, Matthew Tkachuk kept on rolling in his first game back on home ice, batting a loose puck out of the air past and past Mackenzie Blackwood to put the Panthers up 1-0 just 23 seconds into the first period.

The goal is the fastest scored a Panther this season.

“Sometimes the puck finds you, sometimes it doesn’t,” Tkachuk said.

In full control of the action throughout the first period, the Panthers finished the opening 20 minutes with a lopsided 14-6 advantage in shots on goal and a 28-12 edge in shot attempts.

“We wanted to keep doing that,” captain Aleksander Barkov said of the team’s early pressure. “We never want to change our game no matter what the score is. Even if it’s 1-0 or 2-0 to them, we just want to keep doing our thing. That’s why we’ve been successful.”

Under duress again in the second period, Blackwood kept the Panthers from doubling their lead when he flashed leather to rob Aaron Ekblad in the first six minutes of play.

Named the third star of the game, Blackwood made 50 saves in defeat.

Showing off his own skills between the pipes, Bobrovsky brought the “Bob-by!” chants and kept the Panthers on top later in the period with a pair of difficult saves on the penalty kill.

Not long after taking a penalty for stepping up for a teammate, Tkachuk was rewarded with some good karma and another goal when he cut to the net and lifted a backhand shot from in tight that went off Blackwood’s back and fluttered into the twine to make it 2-0 at 10:05.

Operating at over 50% on the power play in their three previous games, the Panthers threw more fuel into the fire when Barkov took a tap-pass from Sam Reinhart and beat Blackwood with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle to make it 3-0 at 13:17.

With things getting testy in the third period, Sam Bennett dropped the gloves with Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.

Spoiling Bobrovsky’s shutout bid much to the dismay of the home crowd, Tyler Toffoli scored on the power play for the Sharks to make it 3-1 with 1:25 remaining in regulation.

Still, as Bobrovsky always says, it’s all about the “big two points.”

“I thought we handled the game exactly the way we wanted to play it tonight,” Tkachuk said. “We had a lot of offense. We had the puck pretty much the whole night. You have to give them credit, they defended hard and their goalie played really well, but I thought this was a really good game for us.”

Making some history once the final horn sounded, Paul Maurice moved into first place on the franchise’s all-time wins list with his 111st win behind the bench with the Panthers.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Maurice said. “The intensity and the ups and downs and the success has what’s made it. These guys are fun to coach. We’ve been in some wild games and incredibly difficult situations and found a way. We reached the summit together.”

THEY SAID IT

“I thought we were solid throughout the zones, throughout the lineup. We played a hard game, just a consistent, strong game.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

“You’ve just got to keep working and prepare the exact same way, which I’m doing. I’ve got a couple fortunate bounces tonight, which is always nice. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’re producing or not, you’ve just got to be as dialed in with your preparation as you can and help the team no matter what they ask.” – Matthew Tkachuk

CATS STATS

- Sergei Bobrovsky earned his 408th career win, surpassing Glenn Hall (407) for the 11th most all-time.

- Sam Bennett extended his point streak to a career-long seven games.

- The Panthers have won 11 straight games against the Sharks.

- Anton Lundell went 8-for-12 (66.7%) in the face-off circle.

- Tomas Nosek blocked a team-high four shots.

- Eetu Luostarinen led the team with five hits.

- The Panthers led 66-25 in shot attempts at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It’s time to stay up late.

Embarking on a five-game road trip out west, the Panthers will start things off with a matchup against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET.

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