Panthers avoid third straight loss with win against Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Aaron Ekblad had two assists, and the Florida Panthers avoided a third straight loss with a 5-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Monday.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves and five players scored for Florida (31-22-6), which opened a five-game road trip.
"It's huge. Big goals, big moments," Ekblad said. "We've talked about this for a while now and we really needed this win. We're going to really try and work to string some wins] together here."
***[WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Sharks highlights]*
Brent Burns extended his point streak to six games with two assists, and Aaron Dell made 23 saves for San Jose (26-29-4), which won its previous two games and four of five.
Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon may have played his last home game with the team. Dillon, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, has been the subject of rumors with the NHL Trade Deadline approaching on Feb. 24.
Dillon has played for the Sharks since the 2014-15 season and helped them reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.
"I don't know, kind of see what happens," said Dillon, who became emotional. "I like being here. I try to play hard every night. It's kind of out of my control."
Five goals were scored in the final 9:56; Colton Sceviour scored on the rebound of his own shot at 10:04 of the third period to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.

Sharks forward Kevin Labanc made it 3-2 with a power-play goal when his wrist shot from the right face-off circle went off Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and floated past Bobrovsky at 14:34.
Anton Stralman restored Florida's two-goal lead when he took a cross-ice pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and scored with a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle to make it 4-2 at 17:06. It was Stralman's fifth goal of the season and Huberdeau's 50th assist.

Timo Meier made it 4-3 with a backhand shot near the right goal post for his 20th of the season at 18:20, but Vincent Trochek scored into an empty net with five seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"I thought we had a real good, strong third period there, and then it got a little more exciting than we hoped for at the very end," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "But it was a big two points for us. I thought [Bobrovsky] was excellent for us tonight; several key stops, they had some traffic and some all-alone looks there, and I thought he put us in a good spot where we always had the lead."

Evgenii Dadonov gave Florida a 1-0 lead when he ended a nine-game goal drought at 4:52 of the first period. It was his first goal since Jan. 21.
San Jose tied the game 1-1 at 11:30 when Dylan Gambrell scored from the slot.
Mike Hoffman scored on a breakaway at 11:00 of the second period to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. He intercepted Burns' pass at the Sharks blue line and slid a shot between Dell's skates.
"We had the momentum and we gave them that one bad chance on the breakaway," Boughner said. "It turned the game in a way."
Bobrovsky saved all 13 shots he faced in the second period.
"It was a big game for us," Bobrovsky said. "The guys had a consistent 60-minute effort."

They said it

"Huge effort. Obviously, they got a lucky bounce there on the [power play] and then they scored late too, but [Stralman] came in and fired it top corner, post and in or bar down, whatever it was. It really gave us that extra push we needed to get through." -- Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad
"We just made a couple real costly mistakes that ended up in the back of our net. They're a pretty opportunistic team that has some skill." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner

Need to know

Huberdeau, who has a three-game point streak (two goals, one assist) joined Barkov as the second player in Panthers history to have multiple seasons with at least 50 assists. … Ekblad, who also has a three-game point streak (four assists), has 29 assists this season, an NHL career high. … Sharks forward Antti Suomela sustained an upper-body injury in the second period. Boughner said he doesn't believe it's serious and that Suomela is day to day. … San Jose played without four of its top six scorers: defenseman Erik Karlsson (thumb), and forwards Logan Couture (ankle), Tomas Hertl (knee) and Evander Kane (suspended).

What's next

Panthers: At the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Sharks: At the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)