The winning streak continues.
The Florida Panthers have won 11 games in a row. Despite being badly outshot and relying on another goalie Roberto Luongo for another great performance, the Panthers defeated the Ottawa Senators by a final score of 3-2 on Thursday.
While leaning heavily on Luongo -- he stopped 30 of 32 shots versus Ottawa -- the Panthers were also opportunistic, burying their chances even if they were held to only 16 shots on goal.
Reilly Smith and Vincent Trocheck scored eight seconds apart in the first period to give the Panthers the lead. They tested Craig Anderson with only four shots on goal in the opening period.
“I don’t think by any means that was our best game,” Luongo told NHL.com. “It was probably one of our worst in the last 11, but for some reason or another right now we’re finding ways to win games, so it’s nice. We’ll take them.”
And from there, it was the Luongo Show. In his last three starts, the 36-year-old netminder has faced 102 shots. He’s allowed only two goals and that’s only a very small sample size of the work he’s done this season for Florida.
And when the Panthers needed a third period goal to increase their lead, which they would eventually have to hang on to, it was the trio of Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau that provided it.
The @FLAPanthers earned their franchise-record 11th straight victory, the longest win streak in the NHL since March 2-22, 2014 (BOS: 12-0-0)
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 8, 2016
The @FLAPanthers earned their 5th consecutive road win to match a franchise record for the second time this season (also Nov. 14 – Dec. 4).
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 8, 2016