Vitek Vanecek Stands Tall, Leads Florida Panthers to Shootout Win

SUNRISE — Vitek Vanecek had it rough before joining the Florida Panthers last month.

Playing for the San Jose Sharks is not easy, and being a goalie certainly was not fun a lot of the time.

Since being traded to the Panthers just before the NHL Trade Deadline, Vanecek seems to be a man whose prison sentence was commuted.

Sure, he has had some tough-luck losses since coming to Florida, but overall, he has been pretty solid after replacing Spencer Knight as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup.

On Saturday night, he stood up to a pretty good barrage of offense from the Buffalo Sabres, a bad team that has gotten better as the pressure of making the playoffs passed them by.

Again.

Vanecek now has two wins since joining the Panthers and, coincidentally or not, both have come against Buffalo.

Saturday, he stopped 26 saves including three in a wild overtime session, to help Florida take a 3-2 win in the shootout.

Only one player scored in the shootout, and it was Anton Lundell in Round 1.

Florida was playing without Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart, among others, but Vanecek pulled the Panthers up and got a key win.

“Our goalie,’’ Paul Maurice said, “was really good when we needed him to be.’’

The Panthers are now tied with Tampa Bay in points (the Lightning have a game in hand) for second place in the Atlantic Division standings.

Saturday night certainly could have gone south had it not been for some pretty good play in net by Vanecek.

“He’s awesome,’’ said Carter Verhaeghe, who tied the score at 1 in the second and ended with two points. “He gets back there and we have so much trust in both of our goalies. He made so many big saves to keep us in the game. They had some good looks. He has been great ever since he has come here.’’

The Panthers trailed 1-0 after the Sabres scored a 2-on-1 power-play goal in the closing seconds of the first.

Then Verhaeghe scored on a beaut of a move in front of the net, Jesse Puljujarvi making it 2-1 on a ‘thank you very much’ deflection off a knuckleball point shot from Uvis Balinskis.

The Sabres got a 5-on-3 power-play goal to tie it, but neither Buffalo goal was on Vanecek.

And, he saved the Panthers numerous times in the final minutes of the third and overtime before acing the shootout.

“The team played really well,’’ Vanecek said. “It’s always a big help. The extra point is really important. I didn’t win a couple of games so I’m really happy I got this one, I hope I keep going like that.”

The Panthers have two games left with Bobrovsky likely going Monday against the Rangers and Vanecek getting the regular-season finale Tuesday in Tampa.

ON DECK: GAME No. 81

NEW YORK RANGERS at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Monday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise 
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FtM)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season vs. Rangers — Regular Season: Panthers won 2-1; Eastern Conference Finals: Panthers won 4-2. 
• This Season (Panthers Lead 2-0) — At Florida: Panthers 5, Rangers 3 (Dec. 30); Monday. At MSG: Panthers 3, Rangers 1 (Oct. 24).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Rangers lead 61-36-8, 6 ties
• Postseason History: Rangers won 4-1 (1997, 1st round); Panthers won 4-2 (2024 ECF)
• Up Next for the Panthers — Regular Season Finale: Tuesday at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN/Local TV)

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