The Panthers beat the Rangers in the rematch in the Eastern Conference finals

NEW YORK – Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves for his 400th career win and the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 on Thursday.

Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe scored goals for Florida early in the first period. Lundell scored the first goal after 44 seconds, beating Igor Shesterkin alone. Verhaeghe extended the Panthers' lead with 2:42 to play.

Alexis Lafreniere scored 4:44 into the game to cut Florida's early lead in half, but it was the only time New York beat Bobrovsky.

Sam Bennett gave Florida a two-goal lead with 6:59 left in the second half.

From there, Florida held on to victory in a rematch of last spring's Eastern Conference Finals, which the Panthers won in six games.

Shesterkin finished the game with 26 saves for the Rangers.

Takeaways

New York: After a 5-0-1 start, the Rangers lost for the first time in regular time.

Florida: The Panthers improved to 3-2-0 on the road after posting an Eastern Conference-best 26-10-5 away record last season.

Key moment

Bobrovsky fended off Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski on a breakaway at 5:47 of the first period and then parried a pad patch on Filip Chytil at 6:35. He also narrowly stopped Chris Kreider at 3:20 p.m. of the opening period.

Important statistics

Bobrovsky became the 14th goaltender in NHL history to reach 400 wins. The 36-year-old goaltender, in his sixth season with the Panthers, has a career record of 400-226-56 in 15 seasons. He also played for Philadelphia and Columbus. Bobrovsky is second in wins among active goaltenders behind Minnesota's Marc-Andre Fleury.

Rangers forward Artemi Panarin, who leads the team with 13 points, including six goals, remained on the scoresheet for the first time this season.

Next

The Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, while the Panthers remain in New York to play the Islanders on Saturday.