EditorsNote: Fixes punctuation in 8th graf
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky won his second game in as many nights as his Florida Panthers defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Sunday at Sunrise, Fla.
Bobrovsky made 30 saves while the Panthers got goals from Keith Yandle, Aleksander Barkov, Mike Matheson, Brett Connolly (his team-high 14th of the season) and Frank Vatrano (empty-netter). Yandle and Connolly both scored on power plays, while Jonathan Huberdeau and Aaron Ekblad added two assists.
Kevin Labanc scored for the Sharks, ending San Jose's 0-for-23 power-play drought over the previous 10 games. Martin Jones made 28 saves for the Sharks, who have lost four straight games.
The Sharks, who entered this weekend with the No. 1 penalty-kill unit in the NHL, gave up two power-play goals in Saturday's 7-1 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning and two more against Florida. The Sharks had allowed just nine power-play goals all season entering Saturday.
On Sunday, Florida opened the scoring with 4:31 expired in the first on Yandle's shot from above the left circle. With two Panthers players looking for a deflection, Yandle's shot handcuffed Jones, trickling in off of his glove. The power play had been set up by Labanc, who was caught hooking Vatrano.
The Panthers made it 2-0 with 8:15 gone in the first as Barkov tapped the puck in after a great pass from Evgenii Dadonov, who waited a couple of extra seconds for the perfect opening.
San Jose cut its deficit to 2-1 with 10:13 elapsed in the first. Ekblad was penalized for interference, and San Jose cashed in just 16 seconds later as Labanc zipped a high shot through heavy traffic.
Florida extended its lead to 3-1 with 6:32 gone in the second. Matheson's low shot from the high slot trickled through the five hole, ending his 28-game goal drought dating back to last season.
Connolly's goal with 9:41 left in the third virtually put San Jose away as he swept in a rebound off a Mike Hoffman shot. Vatrano's empty-netter came with 1:29 left in the game.
--Field Level Media
