Quenneville earns 900th win as NHL coach, Panthers edge Rangers

Joel Quenneville earned his 900th victory as an NHL coach when the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Rangers 4-3 at BB&T Center on Saturday.

Quenneville, who is in his first season with the Panthers, is 900-537-142 with 77 ties in 1,655 games, trailing only Hockey Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins in 2,141 games).
"To be mentioned in the same sentence with (Bowman), with what he's achieved, is pretty amazing," said Quenneville, who won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, 2013 and 2015. "We had a great run in Chicago, some fun times there, but he's accomplished something that is more than amazing."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Panthers highlights]
Evgenii Dadonov scored twice, and Jonathan Huberdeau and Keith Yandle each had three assists for the Panthers (10-5-5), who have won three of their past four. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome each had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (8-8-2), who have lost two straight. Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves.

"I think we did a lot of good things tonight, but obviously our penalty kill (2-of-4) has to get better," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I thought we were on top of them and had a lot of great scoring chances. They're a real good hockey team. It just wasn't enough."
The Panthers took a 4-3 lead at 17:44 of the second period on Dadonov's one-timer from the right face-off circle off a long diagonal pass from Yandle.
"They're a tricky team," Lundqvist said. "For two periods, I felt they were just going for it. We had our opportunities, but they made it tough for us in our end. A lot of side-to-side. I think that's what makes them so hard to play against."
Brett Connolly tied the game at 3-3 with a wrist shot from the right circle at 7:51 of the second.
"I just tried to pull it in and change the angle a little bit," Connolly said. "We stuck with it, it was not an easy game. Obviously, we'd like to give up a few less chances."

Tony DeAngelo put the Rangers up 3-2 at 5:47 of the second when he pinched behind the Florida defense and finished on Panarin's pass from the slot. Panarin extended his point streak to 11 games (five goals, 12 assists).
Panarin tied the game at it 2-2 at 8:47 of the first period.

Huberdeau fed a short pass to Dadonov in the slot for a power-play goal and a 2-1 lead at 6:50 of the first.
"The playmaking they make before the shot is pretty special," Quenneville said. "A lot of different looks. Each guy has two or three options when they do touch the puck, which is tough to defend."
Mike Hoffman converted a pass from Yandle for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead at 2:05 of the first.
"I think we're all taking ownership of doing our job (on the power play), whether it's making that crisp pass or shooting it," Yandle said. "It's an unselfish group. I think everyone looks to make the pass but I think we've been doing a good job of shooting the puck and backing teams off."

Huberdeau got the 250th assist of his NHL career (487 games) on the goal to pass Stephen Weiss as the Panthers all-time leader.
"It's an accomplishment, I'm really happy," Huberdeau said. "I couldn't do it without a lot of the other guys here, obviously (Dadonov and Aleksander Barkov). It's a good organization and it's good to be first in assists."
Strome tied the game 34 seconds later when he tapped in a cross-ice pass from Jesper Fast at the right post at 2:39 to make it 1-1.

They said it

"It's disappointing not to get the two points. I like the turnaround compared to what we did in Tampa Bay (9-3 loss on Thursday). It was a complete 180. I thought we competed and skated and made some plays. We played hockey. If we clean up our special teams, we will win hockey games." -- Rangers coach David Quinn on the team's response
"It's a long season, but every game is so important. Things are happening quick. You have to make sure that, at the right time, you step up and get the big win, get the right emotions and the right attitude in the game." -- Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky

Need to know

Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko missed his second straight game with the flu. … Huberdeau had his second three-assist game in his past three games and has eight multi-point games this season. ... The Panthers have scored at least one power-play goal in nine straight games. ... Barkov had his seven-game point streak end.

What's next

Rangers:Host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Panthers:Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, FS-F, NHL.TV)