Schneider leads Devils to close win over Panthers
NEWARK, NJ -- Cory Schneider turned in a 32-save performance Saturday night as the New Jersey Devils snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at the Prudential Center.
Schneider made his best stops of the night while the Devils killed off all four Panthers power play opportunities, including a lunging pad save on a Jonathan Huberdeau rebound in the first period and a pair of early third-period pieces of thievery on Jamie McGinn.
He also made a clutch save early in the second period on Vincent Trochek's short-handed attempt off a 2-on-1 rush.
Damon Severson gave the Devils (10-4-2) an early 1-0 lead when his slap shot deflected off Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle and past goaltender James Reimer at 5:59 of the first period.
Kyle Palmieri doubled New Jersey's lead with his fourth goal of the season at 4:58 of the second period. It was a 5-on-3 power play goal, the Devils first power play score in six games. It also marked the 12th time in 16 games this season that the Panthers surrendered at least one power play goal.
The Panthers (5-9-2) cut New Jersey's lead to 2-1 on Nick Bjugstad's third goal of the season and first in 13 games 7:20 into the second period. Schneider made an outstanding diving save on Bjugstad's original shot, but the Panthers center banked his rebound shot off a Devils skate and into the net.
Late in the second period, Brian Boyle of the Devils hit the post at one end of the rink and Radim Vrbata's wraparound attempt at the other end was denied by Devils defenseman Andy Greene who slid through the crease to bail out Schneider.
In between those two near-misses, Devils defenseman Steven Santini deposited Florida's Aleksander Barkov over the boards and into the Panthers bench with a hard, clean check, bringing the sold-out crowd to its feet.
NOTES: The Devils wore camouflage warm-up jerseys before the game in honor of US military members for Veterans Day, and Devils goalies Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid wore USA military-themed masks. ... The healthy scratches for the Devils were C Pavel Zacha, D Dalton Prout and D Ben Lovejoy. ... Panthers C Derek MacKenzie suffered an unspecified injury during a collision with Devils C Blake Coleman at 8:56 of the first period. MacKenzie did not return to the game. ... The Panthers scratched C Jared McCann (lower body), D Alex Petrovic and G Antti Niemi.