The Cats ended their West Coast road trip on a high note by taking down the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3-2 win. Bobrovsky put up an excellent performance to deny the Vegas comeback attempt in the third period. New defenseman Donovan Sebrango had a standout night, contributing to two of Florida’s three goals, and special teams looked the best it’s been in several games. 

Big Stop Bob:

It’s easy to take Bobrovsky for granted when he routinely makes incredible saves, but he was once again amazing for the Panthers. He saved 30 of 32 shots for a .938 SV% and kept the dangerous Golden Knight power play off the scoresheet. One of his best saves of the night came in the first period when Marner had a chance to score, but Bobrovsky was able to get back over with his skate just enough to deflect the puck away from the net.

The first period was pretty even, but Sergei made the difference, which allowed the Panthers to head into first intermission with a 1-0 lead. The defense did a strong job of supporting Bob and getting most of the rebounding pucks out of harm’s way. Bob robbed Dorofeyev in the third period on a clean look he got from a cross-ice pass. He did give up quite a few rebounds, which resulted in one of the goals from Vegas in the third period; however, Bob stood tall all night long to get the Panthers back into the win column. The other goal was from a quick release from Barbashev, who gloved down the puck after a pass had been deflected up into the air.

Another stellar night from Bobrovsky, who’s the backbone of the defense. With this win, it ties him for 9th on the NHL’s all-time wins list with Jacques Plante at 437 wins.

Brake Out Night:

Donovan Sebrango is new to the Panthers and has been an excellent fit with Jeff Petry. Another waiver pickup made by Bill Zito, he’s fit pretty seamlessly into the Cats’ system. Against Vegas, he scored his first two NHL points with a primary assist on Jesper Boqvist’s goal that broke the ice and a secondary assist on Brad Marchand’s goal. He also got into a fight with Lauzon for the hit on Gadjovich, which was a game he wasn’t even on the ice for.

It’s always nice to see new guys embrace the Panthers’ culture and stand up for teammates, even for things that happened prior to them being with the team. When he got interviewed between periods, he talked about making his mom proud and that she’s his rockstar. Sebrango expressed similar sentiments when he spoke with the media following the game. When asked about the new defenseman, Forsling said, “He’s been unreal, not just tonight, the other games too. I’m very happy for him and he’s really contributing well.” It’s unclear if Sebrango will stay in the lineup once Kulikov comes back toward the end of the season; however, even if he doesn’t, he’s been fantastic and will be necessary depth for a playoff run, assuming the Panthers get there. 

Special Teams Turnaround:

Florida’s biggest issue so far this season has been their special teams, which isn’t surprising when they’re missing Tkachuk on the power play, Kulikov on the penalty kill, and Barkov on both. That said, there have been flashes of things looking the way they should despite the missing pieces.

Monday night against Vegas was one of those times where both the PK and the PP were rolling and looked excellent. The PK killed off all the Vegas man advantages, while Reinhart scored the game-winner on the PP by tipping in a shot from Seth Jones. Hopefully, this was a solid performance they can build on moving forward, and the power play should get better once Tkachuk comes back sometime in December if the recovery timeline holds. Granted, this team’s greatest strength has been their even-strength play, and that’s what they’ve excelled at during the playoffs. They can win games with their special teams, but if there’s one weakness for Florida, it’s all the penalties, whether for or against. Too much of either wears out their top players and thins the lineup when they’d rather be able to roll four lines. But, they got the important game winner out of the PP in the final period, so they’ll take that any night of the week.

The Panthers end this road trip 2-2, which is roughly what they did last season, and now they get to spend nearly the rest of the month at home, only going on the road to Nashville. The travel schedule doesn’t hit extra hard until January & March, when they’ll spend most of those months on the road. 

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