The Nashville Predators beat the Florida Panthers by a score of 4-1 on Monday night.
The win kept the Predators ahead of the Dallas Stars for the fourth spot in the Central Division. Meanwhile, Florida has to wait another game in order to clinch a playoff spot.
Game Recap
Nearly five minutes into the first period, Sam Bennett rebounded a puck off of his skate and into the net for Florida, giving the Panthers the early lead. It was Bennett’s fourth goal as a Florida Panther (in six games played). Shortly after, MacKenzie Weegar took a penalty, which lost momentum for Florida. Within the first minute of the man advantage, Mikael Granlund tied the game at one apiece.
Early in the second period, Nick Cousins buried a shot right in front of the net, giving Nashville their first lead of the game. Later in the frame, Florida goalie Chris Driedger went down with a lower-body injury, with around five minutes remaining. From here on out, Sergei Bobrovsky took over in net.
In the final period, Nashville was able to net two more goals. On the other hand, the Panthers were not able to get a puck by Saros. Erik Haula scored 2:39 into the third to record his second point of the game. Yakov Trenin then scored the fourth goal, assisted by Tanner Jeannot. It was Jeannot’s first career NHL assist.
Goalies
Juuse Saros played fantastic, with one of his best games this season. The 26-year-old Finland native stopped 39 out of 40 shots. Saros now sits at 18-9-1 with a .929 save percentage on the season. On the other end, both Florida goalies underperformed. Chris Driedger stopped 14 of 16 shots while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped only nine of 11 shots.
Up Next
Florida will meet Nashville for the final time this season on Tuesday, April 27th. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 PM EST.
Duclair: “We’re going to regroup. We still have a chance to clinch here and put ourselves in a good spot. We’re just going to regroup, recharge and get back at it.”
Can the Panthers clinch a playoff spot?