Wild cruise past Panthers, extend point streak to 6
Boldy, Eriksson Ek, Zuccarello each has goal, assist in win; Bobrovsky pulled for Florida
Wild at Panthers | Recap
SUNRISE, Fla. — Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and an assist, helping the Minnesota Wild defeat the Florida Panthers 5-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday.
The Wild are the second team in NHL history to not trail in regulation through its first six games. The 1969-70 Boston Bruins did it in their first seven.
Jake Middleton had three assists, Kirill Kaprizov had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 24 saves for the Wild (4-0-2), who have their second six-game point streak to begin a season. Minnesota opened the 2008-09 season 5-0-1.
Sam Bennett scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots for the Panthers (4-3-1) before being replaced by Spencer Knight (six saves) to begin the third period. Bobrovsky was seeking his 400th NHL victory.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals 22 seconds apart. Marco Rossi scored at 11:40 when he deflected a shot in the slot from Kaprizov, and Marcus Johansson extended the lead at 12:02 by one-timing a pass from Boldy in the left face-off circle.
Boldy made it 3-0 on the power play at 1:40 of the second period, deflecting a point shot from Zuccarello.
Bennett cut it to 3-1 at 11:19 after Carter Verhaeghe’s centering pass went in off his right skate.
Zuccarello pushed it to 4-1 at 13:58. Kaprizov pulled Bobrovsky out of position by carrying the puck from the left side around the back of the net, then fed Zuccarello in the right circle for a one-timer.
Eriksson Ek skated onto a loose puck and scored from the left circle to the far side at 16:05 of the second for the 5-1 final.