ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jaromir Jagr scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and James Reimer made 35 saves as the Florida Panthers defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Friday night for their third consecutive win.
Colton Sceviour had a goal, Aaron Ekblad scored on the power play and Derek MacKenzie added an empty-net goal, giving the Panthers six wins in their last seven games. Florida now trails Toronto by one point for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Andrew Cogliano scored a short-handed goal and James Gibson stopped 27 shots for the Ducks, who had picked up a point in 12 of their previous 14 home games.
Jagr gave Florida a 2-1 lead with a moment of his ageless brilliance. He stole the puck from defenceman Josh Manson coming out from behind the Ducks’ net and calmly used a series of dekes to leave Gibson seated on his backside before pocketing his 760th career goal.
Ekblad then put the Panthers ahead 3-1 midway through the second, as the third-year defenceman put a rising shot under Gibson’s right arm for his 12th career power-play goal.
Anaheim’s stout penalty kill unit provided the first goal of the game early in the second. Cogliano was able to glove down Logan Shaw’s pass and scored on a breakaway, putting a shot between Reimer’s legs. Cogliano has now contributed three of the Ducks’ seven short-handed goals this season.
But the Panthers subsequently equalized on an innocuous wrist shot from Sceviour. There were three bodies in front of Gibson and he couldn’t see the shot until it was too late, as Sceviour picked up his seventh goal of the season.
NOTES: Coyotes D Keith Yandle appeared in his 607th consecutive game, second only to Cogliano’s mark of 763 straight games among active players. … Sami Vatanen returned to the Ducks’ lineup after missing five games with a lower-body injury. … Vincent Trocheck had an assist for Arizona, extending his streak of games with a point to four. … Playing their first game without centre Antoine Vermette, who’s serving a 10-game suspension for slashing an official pending an appeal, the Ducks still dominated in the faceoff circle. Anaheim won 12 of 17 faceoffs in the first period and 71 per cent for the game.
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