Vanecek stellar in Panthers debut, shutting out Sabres for Florida's sixth straight win
After he was traded over to the Florida Panthers earlier this week, goaltender Vitek Vanecek said he planned to do whatever he could to help the team win a second Stanley Cup.
Saturday was a good start.
Vanecek, who came over from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward prospect Patrick Giles, stopped all 21 shots he faced in his Panthers debut for a 4-0 shutout win over the Buffalo Sabres at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers are 40-21-3 on the season, swept their five-game homestand and are on a six-game win streak — one shy of their longest stretch of the season. Buffalo falls to 24-32-6.
A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett scored goals for Florida to back up Vanecek's efforts in net.
Vanecek becomes the third goaltender in Panthers history to log a shutout in his franchise debut. The others: Chris Driedger against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 30, 2019, and Jose Theodore against the New York Islanders on Oct. 8, 2011.
It was the third overall shutout for the Panthers over the past four games, with Florida giving up just one goal in that stretch. It's the first time in franchise history the Panthers have allowed just one goal in a four-game span, the first time any team has done that since the Tampa Bay Lightning from Feb. 24-March 2, 2021, and just the 11th instance since the turn of the century.
This and that
▪ With his secondary assist on Verhaeghe's second-period goal, defenseman Aaron Ekblad has 30 assists on the season. It's the third 30-assist season of his career and first since the 2021-22 season. Ekblad has now logged at least one assist in six consecutive games, tying the Panthers record done four other times (also by Brandon Montour, MacKenzie Weegar, Jay Bouwmeester and Robert Svehla).
▪ Defenseman Nate Schmidt had the primary assist on the goals from Greer and Lundell. It's his first multi-point game since Dec. 22, 2022.
▪ The Panthers have outscored opponents 20-5 over their six-game win streak.
▪ Florida went a perfect 2 for 2 on the penalty kill Saturday, not allowing a shot on goal over the four minutes they played down a man. Since returning from the NHL's break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Panthers have gone 19 for 20 on the penalty kill over seven games.
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