Panthers break scoring drought, start strong then hold off Rangers 5-3 behind Jesper Boqvist

Jesper Boqvist looks like the latest Bill Zito Special — with the emphasis on special.

Boqvist recorded his first two-goal game in nearly two years Monday, including the third-period game-winner as the Florida Panthers snapped a two-game losing streak and closed out an historic 2024 with a 5-3 win against the New York Rangers on Monday.

Boqvist — who’s earning just $775,000 in base salary this season — has helped round out a potent third line that was the difference in the first Panthers-Rangers meeting in Sunrise since Florida’s Eastern Conference clincher last June.

Neither Boqvist nor his teammate/brother Adam — who assisted on Jasper’s fifth career game-winner — were part of last season’s Stanley Cup championship team. But if the Panthers are going to be South Florida’s first repeat champions since the Miami Heat of 2012 and 2013, they’re going to need big production next spring from their value signings.

“Amazing,” said Jasper Boqvist, who scored his sixth and seventh goals of the season Monday. “Dream coming true again and we’re living the dream here and we’re having a lot of fun and super thankful for it.”.

The Panthers closed out the 2024 calendar year at 23-13-2 and atop Atlantic Division.

But Monday’s result would have been far different without a vintage Sergei Bobrovsky performance. Bobrovsky turned away 33 of the 36 shots he faced, including a chaotic late flurry in the face of a 6-on-4 Rangers attack.

“I thought Bob was great,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “Sergei made three or four incredible saves or we’re having a different conversation. We can’t lose sight of that.”

The Panthers survived the desperate Rangers (16-19-1) despite blowing a 2-0 lead, their top line going scoreless until Aleksander Barkov found an empty net with 37 seconds left in regulation, and three mental mistakes that resulted in Rangers power plays (two delay of game penalties, one too-many-men-on-the-ice violation).

But after back-to-back shutout losses during the past week, offense wasn’t a problem Monday. Florida snapped a 123-minute, 35-second scoreless streak in emphatic fashion Monday.

They got off the schneid three minutes and change after the opening faceoff when Eetu Luostarinen redirected a long-range shot by Gustav Forsling for his sixth goal of the season.

Not even three minutes later, Florida doubled its lead when Mackie Samoskevich redirected a 74.6 mph Dmitry Kulikov wrist shot over Igor Shesterkin’s left shoulder.

The Panthers carried that two-goal lead far deeper into the second period than they deserved to. Bobrovsky made a series of sprawling saves, and the Rangers had multiple point-blank misses — including an open-net attempt by Brett Berard that somehow sailed wide.

But the Rangers finally broke through — and did so emphatically. New York scored twice in 112 seconds late in the second period. Filip Chytil lit the lamp first, putting back a rebound after a Bobrovsky skate save. The many Rangers fans that helped sell out Amerant Bank Arena Monday barely could find their seats before Ryan Lindgren tied it up with a backhand shot after collecting a no-look pass from Adam Fox.

The Rangers’ good vibes lasted all of 38 seconds. Jesper Boqvist put the Panthers back ahead by cleaning up a loose puck after a wrap-around attempt by Anton Lundell put Shesterkin on the ice with his back to the action.

The Panthers continued to play with fire after the break, and eventually got burnt again. Carter Verhaeghe tripped Alexis Lafreniere some five minutes into the third, and Chris Kreider scored the equalizer with a wrist shot 22 seconds into the power play.

A third consecutive Florida loss looked increasingly likely.

Then the Boqvist Brothers had their first signature moment as teammates in Sunrise.