Florida Panthers shut down Pittsburgh Penguins, create blueprint for success

The Panthers’ 4-1 victory over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday did not lack for descriptors. For one, it was rare.

The win was Florida’s first here since Jan. 20, 2014, with the Penguins having won 16 of their past 17 home games in the series before Sunday.

It also helped the Panthers, who have now won seven of 10 to raise their record to 22-15-5, bounce back from a lackluster performance Saturday in Buffalo and close their four-game road trip with a win.

But most of all, Sunday’s victory represented a blueprint, the type of 60-minute effort the Panthers should look to replicate regardless of opponent, month or any other variable.

The Panthers used a four-line effort to shut down one of the NHL’s hottest teams and showed some maturity by playing arguably their best hockey during a third period where they put the Penguins (25-12-5) away for good.

“We’ve had some tough third periods with leads,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve had three-goal leads, and it’s almost like we think we have to manufacture stuff. But I think we played the clock and the score against a good team.

“We get that improvement in our game, we’re going to be a much better team.”

Chris Driedger started in goal and turned aside 31 of 32 Pittsburgh shots, including all 13 during a busy — but scoreless — second period. Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov scored in the third period, as the Panthers again dominated in the second half of a back-to-back set.

In the past four such games, the Panthers have four wins and have outscored their opponents 19-9.

“It was good that we played a full 60 minutes,” said Vince Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native playing in his 400th NHL game. “It’s been an issue of ours, coming out flat when we have the lead. [Sunday] we played as well in the third as we did in the first and second.”

Dadonov’s goal, scored into an empty net, was his 18th of the season, breaking a tie with Jonathan Huberdeau for the team lead. The Russian winger now has six in his past eight games

.Bigger in this game, though, was Hoffman’s marker, which came at 8:52 of the third period. Frank Vatrano controlled the puck in the right circle and waited for a passing lane to open. Hoffman took Vatrano’s feed and ripped a snap shot past Tristan Jarry from the high slot, 37 feet out.

Vatrano, who this past Thursday scored for the first time in 11 games, actually put the Panthers ahead, 1-0, with his goal at 2:28 of the first. After picking up a pass from Hoffman, Vatrano out-skated Penguins defenseman Kris Letang — no small feat — and finished his own rebound for a 1-0 Panthers lead.

“We’ve had some ordinary starts lately,” Quenneville said. “It was nice to have the lead early.”

The lead did not last long, however, as Penguins center Jared McCann finished a two-on-one with Dominik Simon by scoring from the inner-edge of the left circle at 3:52 of the first.

Brett Connolly restored Florida’s one-goal cushion with a terrific goal at 10:44 of the opening period. After Letang was unable to get the puck out of the Penguins’ zone, Mike Matheson threw it behind the net, where Trocheck gathered it and delivered a spinning feed to Connolly.

“Huge timing that we came right back and finished [the first period] with the lead,” Quenneville said.

The second period featured a ton of terrific goaltending, as the Panthers were surprisingly held without a goal; they began Sunday tied with Colorado for the most markers in the middle 20, with 60.

Jarry made a spectacular stop on Aaron Ekblad from 24 feet at 4:11 of the second, moving from left to right and using the bottom of his blocker to make the save.

Driedger, who relieved Sergei Bobrovsky 25:33 into Saturday’s game and also started Sunday, equaled Jarry with a couple 10-bell saves, thwarting Penguins wingers Simon and Zach Aston-Reese on two-on-ones.

“The guys did a great job,” said Driedger, who has squared off with Jarry since their junior hockey days. “The last game we weren’t happy with the loss. We rallied and tried to do the little things a little better.”

And, in the process, the Panthers sketched themselves out a pretty nice little blueprint.

“Today,” Quenneville said, “is something to build off of.”

▪ Denis Malgin and Jayce Hawryluk drew into the lineup, while Brian Boyle and Mark Pysyk were healthy scratches. … MacKenzie Weeger missed a sixth consecutive game with an upper-body injury.