SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky earned his first shutout with Florida, and Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and an assist as the Panthers cruised to a 4-0 win over the struggling Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
Bobrovsky, who signed with the Panthers as a free agent in the off-season, stopped 22 shots for his 34th career shutout.
Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist, and Brett Connolly also scored for the Panthers. Keith Yandle added two assists.
The Panthers have won five of seven to move to 7-3-4, their best 14-game start since 1996-97 when they opened 9-1-4.
Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves for Detroit, which fell to 1-9-1 in its past 11 games.
Huberdeau stretched the lead to 3-0 at 6:45 of the second period when he found the puck at the bottom of the right circle and bounced it off a defenceman’s skate and into the net.
His second goal made it 4-0 with 9:14 left in the third. Huberdeau pushed in the puck on Bernier’s stick side.
Connolly gave the Panthers a 1-0 advantage 3:05 in. After his initial shot hit the post, he grabbed the puck in the right circle and banked it off the far post and in.
Barkov’s power-play goal made it 2-0. Barkov was positioned in front of the crease and poked in the rebound of a shot by Huberdeau with 3:06 left in the first.
NOTES
Panthers D Anton Stralman got his 200th NHL assist on the first goal by Huberdeau. … C Jayce Hawryluk will miss three to four weeks with an upper-body injury. . Red Wings C Valtteri Filppula played his 400th NHL game. … D Alex Biega returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous five games.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Host the Nashville Predators on Monday.
Panthers: Home against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
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Paul Gereffi, The Associated Press