Panthers Postgame Notes - 11.20.21 vs. MIN

FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. MINNESOTA WILD

NOVEMBER 20, 2021

FLA Live Arena – Sunrise, Fla.

FLORIDA PANTHERS	MINNESOTA WILD
5	4

PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES

Forward Frank Vatrano

On the team’s 10th straight win at home:

“Yeah, it was a group effort tonight. I think we played a really good hockey game. [Minnesota’s] a really good team. We were ready for the challenge…

“We’re a confident group, we know how good we are. We play all the way throughout the entire lineup, and I think that’s what it is—we’re just really confident in our group and we know the guy next to us is going to do his job every single night.”

On his line’s success:

“Yeah, we’ve been really comfortable. Played with Tipp for most of the year last year, me and him play a similar style game—like to play hard and fast. And you know Jumbo’s been around for a long time, he’s a veteran presence out there and you know what you’re going to get from him, he’s going to make plays and be smart all over the ice, so it’s been good.”

Forward Owen Tippett

On the team’s home-ice success:

“Yeah, I think it’s just the atmosphere in the rink. I mean obviously the guys build off that and when you have crowds like you do it’s easy to get energy and get up on the bench.”

On the crowd’s reaction to Bobrovsky’s saves:

“Yeah, Bob was great. I think I was on the ice for some of [his big saves in the second period]. You can definitely hear [the crowd], like I said, you know, when he makes a big save like that and the crowd is cheering, I mean, it just gets everyone fired up and the intensity goes up during the play.”

On Ekblad’s assist on his goal tonight:

“[Ekblad’s pass] was awesome. He made a great move and when he came through and just pulled it back a little—it was a great play by him…At first it started out as a two-on-one and I kind of had to get out of his way a bit and let him have some space, but after that I think I was just trying to follow it up in case there was that leaking puck out, or he’d get a shot on and there was a rebound, but he made a great play.”

Interim Head Coach Andrew Brunette

On Bobrovsky’s performance

“He made some huge saves at important times for us, especially in the second period, we got a little loosey-goosey. He’s been there for us all year.”

On home-ice advantage at FLA Live Arena:

“We’re trying to make it an imposing place. We are building off that and [making] this a really hard place to play. We don’t just want to be good and home, we want to be great and tonight was another step and this is a big homestand for us. Homestands, at least during my time in Florida here are really important.”

CATS STATS

With tonight’s win, the Panthers became the fourth NHL team in NHL history to start the regular season with 10 consecutive home wins (10-0-0). The streak is Florida’s longest home win streak in club history.
Florida has won 14 consecutive home games dating back to April 24 vs. CAR, extending their club record for longest home win streak spanning multiple seasons.
The Panthers have scored at least four goals in all 10 of their home games in 2021-22, one game shy of the NHL record for most consecutive home games with at least four tallies to start a season. They are the third team in league history to score four or more goals in each of their first 10 home games of a season (1983-84 EDM, 1992-93 PHI).
Joe Thornton’s assist on Frank Vatrano’s first goal represented Thornton’s 1,531^st NHL point, tying Paul Coffey for 13^th-most points in NHL history.
Frank Vatrano recorded three points (2-1-3), including two second-period goals.
Sergei Bobrovsky improved his record at FLA Live Arena this season to 6-0-0. He is the only NHL goaltender with at least six home starts who has not suffered a loss of any kind on home ice this season.
Jonathan Huberdeau notched an assist, extending his point streak to four games (3-2-5).
Aaron Ekblad posted two assists, extending his point streak to four games (1-4-5).
Carter Verhaeghe scored a goal for the third consecutive game.
MacKenzie Weegar posted an assist for the third consecutive game.
Radko Gudas notched an assist and recorded nine hits, the most by a Panther in a game this season.
Sam Bennett tallied his sixth goal of the season.