The Panthers completed a sweep of fast fading Toronto by skating off with a 5-2 victory Tuesday night in Sunrise. Toronto hasn’t collected a regulation victory against the Panthers since October of 2010.
Sean Bergenheim (15, 16) opened the scoring 59 seconds into the game and closed it with just over a minute remaining. Jason Garrison (15) tied a Panther’s record for goals by defensemen, and Tomas Kopecky (7) and Marcel Goc (9) added power play markers for the Cats.
Tyler Bozak (15) and Mikhail Grabovski (22) lit the lamp for Toronto. James Reimer continued his historical ineptitude against Florida, stopping 22-of-26 shots in defeat. In three games against the Panthers he has stopped 45-of-57 shots, a .789 save percentage.
Jose Theodore’s shutout streak was ended with just over a minute left to play in the second period at two hours and one minute. Theodore faced a total of 28 shots, stopping 26.
HITS: Keaton Ellerby collected five hits for the Panthers. Tomas Kopecky and Mike Weaver racked up four hits each.
BLOCKED SHOTS: Ellerby and Weaver blocked three shots apiece for Florida.
FACEOFFS: Marcel Goc and Stephen Weiss each split their faceoff opportunites, going a collective 15-of-30.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Jason Garrison and Kopecky each took five shots on Reimer’s goal to lead the Panthers.