SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots to win for the second straight night as the Florida Panthers beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 Sunday.
Aleksander Barkov, Keith Yandle and Frank Vatrano each had a goal and an assist, and Mike Matheson and Brett Connolly also scored to help Florida win for the third time in four games. Aaron Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau each had two assists.
Bobrovsky, coming off a 33-save performance in win over Columbus — his former team — on Saturday night, improved to 11-6-4.
Kevin Labanc scored and Martin Jones had 28 saves for the Sharks, who lost their fourth straight (0-3-1).
The Sharks entered the game with the NHL’s top penalty-killing unit, but a night after giving up two power-play goals against Tampa Bay, they fell behind early in the first whiledown a man.
Yandle fired a long shot from near the blue line that beat Jones for his third goal at 4:15 — just 11 seconds into the power play.
Barkov finished off a 3-on-2 rush by tapping in his 10th after a slick pass from Evgenii Dadonov for a 2-0 lead at 7:58.
The Sharks pulled within one when Labanc scored his eighth on a power play at 9:57.
Matheson got his first when his long shot from the point squeezed through Jones’ pads at 6:32 of the second as a power play expire to make it 3-1.
After San Jose’s Brenden Dillon committed a pair of minor penalties, Connolly got his 14th on a rebound just 7 seconds into the first penalty at 10:19 for a three-goal lead.
Vatrano rouned out the scoring with his seventh into an empty net with 1:29 left.
NOTES
Sharks D Radim Simek returned to San Jose for a minor meniscus procedure and will miss two weeks. Tim Heed made his 18th appearance in his place. … The Sharks have three coaches who were behind the bench for Florida at one point — head coach DeBoer (2008-11) and assistant Bob Boughner (2017-19) were head coaches, and assistant Dave Barr (2016-17) had the same role. “On the way here to the rink today, everyone was pointing out where they all lived,” DeBoer said before the game, laughing. … San Jose scratched F Lean Bergmann and F Lukas Radil plus Simek. … Barkov’s goal and assist gave him seven points (three goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. … The Panthers scratched F Denis Malgin, F Jayce Hawryluk and D Mark Pysyk.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Conclude their road trip on Tuesday night in Nashville.
Panthers: Host Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.
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More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
Bill Whitehead, The Associated Press
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