Panthers 4, Avalanche 1
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Center Vincent Trocheck scored a pair of power-play goals, and Roberto Luongo earned his first shutout of the season as the Florida Panthers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Tuesday night at the BB&T Center.
Trocheck, who also had an assist, now has four goals this season. Defenseman Brian Campbell picked up a goal and a pair of assists. And right winger Reilly Smith had a goal and an assist.
The Panthers went 3-for-3 on the power play. Colorado was 0-for-5 on its power play.
It was the Panthers' second straight win, but it was costly as their leading scorer, right winger Jaromir Jagr, left the game due to a lower-body injury, possibly in the hamstring area.
Jagr, the oldest player in the NHL at 43, entered the game tied for fourth in the league in goals with six and leading the Panthers in points with 10. But he played just 2:30 on Tuesday.
Luongo, who picked up an assist on Florida's first goal, moved into sole possession of ninth place on the NHL's all-time win list with 404, moving past Grant Fuhr.
The Avalanche, who started backup goalie Reto Berra, have lost five of their past six games.
Florida opened the scoring with 19.7 seconds left in the first period. Trocheck skated up the right side on what was essentially a one-man rush, beating Berra with a wrist shot to the stick side.
The power play was set up when Colorado left winger Alex Tanguay held Campbell.
Early in the second period, the Panthers killed off a pair of penalties, including 52 seconds in which they were down two men.
The Panthers made it 2-0 with 17:02 left in the third period. Trocheck, operating on the left side this time, took a pass from defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. The Panthers moved the puck well laterally on the play, and Trocheck beat Berra before he could get back to cover his stick side.
Smith scored with 10:11 left in the third period, again beating Berra stick side.
Florida's third-period goals came as the result of a pair of penalties on defenseman Francois Beauchemin -- tripping and cross checking.
The Panthers made it 4-0 on Campbell's short-handed goal with 5:58 left. It was Campbell's first goal of the season.
Colorado left winger Gabriel Landeskog ruined Luongo's shutout bid with 59.7 seconds left in the game.
NOTES: Panthers C Aleksander Barkov (broken bone in right hand) won't need surgery and should return in two to four weeks. Had he required an operation, he might have missed two months. ... This is the 20th anniversary of Florida reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the only time in franchise history, losing four straight games to Colorado to end its most glorious year. ... Colorado D Tyson Barrie returned after a three-game suspension for his hit on Ducks D Simon Despres. Colorado lost all three games without Barrie. ... Len Barrie, Tyson's father, played the final 74 games of his NHL career with Florida, retiring in 2001. ... Colorado rested starting G Semyon Varlamov, who has lost his past three games, and G Reto Berra made his third start of the season. ... The Avalanche scratched Ds Brad Stuart and Brandon Gormley. The Panthers scratched Ds Dylan Olsen and Steven Kampfer.