Luongo Hits Milestone As Panthers Take Down Division-Leading Devils 3-2
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NEWARK (CBSMiami/AP) — Coming off perhaps their worst game of the season, the Florida Panthers took a big step in the right direction against the division-leading Devils.
Jared McCann scored the go-ahead goal and Roberto Luongo made 23 saves to become the second goalie to win 200 games with two different teams as the Panthers beat New Jersey 3-2 on Monday night.
Luongo's 200th win with Florida was a see-saw affair in the third period. He also won 252 with Vancouver to join an exclusive club.
The other netminder to accomplish the feat was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy with 289 wins for Montreal and 262 for Colorado.
Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck also scored as the struggling Panthers cooled off the streaking Devils who were on a 5-1-2 run coming in. The win was the second in the last five games for Florida.
Rookies Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt scored for New Jersey and Cory Schneider made 35 saves.
Barkov snapped a scoreless deadlock on the Panthers 30th shot with 2:40 remaining in the second period.
Florida had dominated play and was finally rewarded with Barkov's shorthanded tally.
He broke into the Devils zone on a 2-on-1 break with Colton Sceviour and opted to keep the puck, beating Schneider just inside the left post.
It was the second straight period in which the Panthers were clearly the better team. The outshot the Devils 31-10 after 40 minutes and clung to a 1-0 advantage.
Things opened up in the third.
Hischier pulled New Jersey even at 2:20. Trocheck got his team-leading 10th at 4:07 on a shot that nicked the post to put Florida back in front at 2-1.
Bratt threw the puck at the crease from a bad angle and wound up with the Devils second goal as it bounced in off the skate of Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad at 8:19.
McCann gave the Panthers their third lead of the game, putting in his own rebound at 12:45.
The Panthers also dominated the opening period yet came away empty handed. Florida outshot New Jersey 16-3 during the scoreless frame as Schneider was under constant pressure.
The Devils goalie stopped two dead-on shots from Trocheck and denied Derek McKenzie's short-handed breakway with a sliding right pad stop.
Luongo saw little action in his end with New Jersey defenseman John Moore providing two of his club's few chances. Moore hit the post with a drive from the left post and almost broke the deadlock in the closing seconds only to have Luongo snare his wrister with a sharp glove save.
The three shots tied New Jersey's season low for a period.
NOTES: The Panthers recalled C Denis Malgin from Springfield of the AHL on Monday. ... Panthers RW Evgenii Dadonov could miss several weeks with an upper-body injury suffered in the third period Saturday in Florida's 4-1 loss to Chicago. ... Devils LW Marcus Johansson missed a 13th straight game with a concussion. He has resumed practicing and could return during New Jersey's upcoming three-game road trip.
UP NEXT:
Panthers: At New York Rangers on Tuesday.
Devils: At Colorado on Friday.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
