Yahoo Sports Panthers come up short against Kochetkov, Hurricanes
A tight, competitive hockey game between two strong Eastern Conference competitors went the way of the visitors.
The Florida Panthers fought valiantly but couldn’t overcome Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov and lost 3-1 on Thursday night at Amerant Bank Arena.
A quick shot by Brent Burns from the half boards deflected off Sasha Barkov before beating Sergei Bobrovsky on the game’s opening shift, giving Carolina 1-0 lead at the 35 second mark.
The visitors kept the pressure on Florida for much of the opening period, outshooting Florida 14-1 over the game’s first 13 minutes.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant, stopping 14 straight shots including five of the high danger variety over the remainder of the first period, keeping the Cats’ deficit to one after twenty minutes.
It didn’t take long during the middle frame for Florida to tie the game.
Late in a shift, Evan Rodrigues chased the puck into Carolina’s end and thanks to a heavy forecheck, found a loose puck and fed to a streaking Jesper Boqvist.
Boqvist quickly moved the puck to a wide-open Anton Lundell on the doorstep and his quick forehand-backhand move was enough to draw Kochetkov to the ice, and Lundell quickly pushed a backhand over Kochetkov’s glove to tie the game at one.
Carolina took the lead back with 12:30 go go on a very controversial play.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi came in on a breakaway but was taken down by Matthew Tkachuk, crashing into Bobrovsky. There was no call.
Play continued but Kotkaniemi remained on his back in the crease, with Tkachuk jumping on top of him.
Bobrovsky made another save on a shot from the outside on Sean Walker, then Jaccob Slavin jumped on the rebound and took advantage of Bob being limited by where he could move and snuck the puck between Bobrovsky and the post.
It was a strong play, and the official said that he didn’t blow the play dead because Tkachuk wouldn’t allow Kotkaniemi a chance to get up.
Florida pushed hard for an equalizer but couldn’t solve Kochetkov, and Martin Necas added an empty-net goal in the final moments.
On to Pittsburgh.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Lundell has six points over his past eight games after going scoreless in the six previous.
Jesper Boqvist has three goals and five points over his past five games.
Bobrovsky saved all seven of Carolina’s high danger shots, finishing with 37 saves.
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