Luongo reaches milestone as Panthers top Devils
NEWARK, N.J. -- Roberto Luongo etched his name in the record books Monday night as the Florida Panthers defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at the Prudential Center.
Luongo earned his 200th victory as a member of the Panthers, making him just the second goaltender in NHL history to win 200 games for two different teams, joining Hockey Hall of Famer Patrick Roy. Luongo also won 252 games with the Vancouver Canucks, while Roy earned 289 victories with the Montreal Canadiens and 262 with the Colorado Avalanche.
Luongo, 38, made 23 saves in his milestone victory. His counterpart, Cory Schneider of the Devils, stopped the first 29 shots he faced and finished with 35 saves in the loss.
The Panthers scored the decisive goal at 12:45 of the third period. Jared McCann collected the rebound of his own blocked shot and flipped his fourth goal past Schneider to give Florida a 3-2 lead.
The Panthers dominated the game's first 40 minutes, outshooting the Devils 31-10 through two periods of play. However, they managed only an Aleksander Barkov short-handed goal at 17:20 of the second period and carried a slim 1-0 lead into the third.
The teams woke up to combine for three goals over the first 8:19 of the final period, with the resilient Devils rallying twice to tie the score on goals from rookies Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt.
Hischier snapped a 10-foot shot over Luongo's glove to make it 1-1 with his fifth goal at 2:20 of the third.
Florida's Vincent Trocheck, who was robbed three times previously in the game by Schneider, finally broke through against the Devils goalie at 4:07. Trocheck scored his 10th goal, unassisted, wristing a shot between the legs of Devils defenseman Andy Greene and far side past the stick of Schneider to restore the Panthers' one-goal lead.
The Devils, though, caught a break four minutes later. Bratt slid a puck through Luongo's crease and had it bounce off the skate of Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and over the goal line to make it 2-2 at 8:19.
NOTES: Devils LW Marcus Johansson (concussion) missed his 13th consecutive game but was medically cleared to return to game action and will accompany the team on its upcoming three-game road trip. ... The Devils scratched D Dalton Prout and RW Jimmy Hayes. ... Panthers C Aleksander Barkov scored his third short-handed goal of the season, tying him with Buffalo Sabres LW Evander Kane for the league lead. ... RW Evgenii Dadonov, C Connor Brickley and D Ian McCoshen were the Panthers' healthy scratches.