Sunrise, Fla. — Alexander Barkov scored a pair of goals, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves as he won the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at the Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
Improved to 38-21-3, the Panthers finished their Lightning straight win in eight games.
“I really liked it,” Barkov said of the victory. This is Florida’s fourth consecutive line. “We worked hard throughout the game. We had to be at our best because we knew they were really a good team and they were playing really well. We did a lot of good things throughout the game. The last time we had to defend, Bob (Bobrovsky) was there for us and gave us the opportunity to win.”
Seth Jones, who bought it through trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, turned his eyes to his home for his debut with Florida, watching ice time at 22:56, including a penalty kill of 4:08.
The Panthers also controlled 55.56% of shot attempts when they were deployed 5-for-5.
“He’s going to be really good for us,” coach Paul Maurice said of Jones, who skated in the team’s second defensive pairing. “He moves the puck neatly and has a series of hands on him. …I was really pleased with his ability to handle and play the game. It’s down the system. Defeating everything else. This makes him faster. He’s a good pro.”
The Panthers who make it through an unharmed period were taller during two penalty kills against Tampa Bay’s deadly power play. Appearing in the clutch, Bobrovsky made several major saves, including a strolling shot from the tights, including robbing Mitchell Chaffey.
Showing a whole world shot, Barkov broke through for the Panthers in the second season, intercepting attempts to clear, abandoning defenders along the board, defeating Andrei Vasirevsky, down the slot and down the slot for 1-0 at 9:02.
