Panthers’ Luongo returns to shut out Bruins

Roberto Luongo returned from the injured list and earned a shutout, and Mike Hoffman scored two goals as the host Florida Panthers routed the Boston Bruins 5-0 on Tuesday night.

Florida winger Jonathan Huberdeau extended his streak to six straight multi-point games. He had one goal and two assists on Tuesday and has three goals and 11 assists during his streak.

He can tie Pavel Bure's franchise record with a multi-point game in his next outing.

Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov had Florida's other goals. Aleksander Barkov had three assists, and Keith Yandle had two.

This was Luongo's first game since Nov. 23, but he looked sharp, making 33 saves. He missed the previous five games with his second lower-body injury of the season.

He played just nine of Florida's first 25 games due to injuries, and the Panthers lost his past four starts before everything changed against the Bruins.

This was Luongo's 77th career shutout, moving him past Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito for ninth place on the NHL list.

Hoffman, acquired from the Ottawa Senators in a steal of a trade this past offseason, has a team-high 14 goals. He also has 26 points in his past 24 games.

After a scoreless first period, the Panthers were dominant with four goals against Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak (39 saves).

Florida opened the scoring with 15:39 left in the second. Colton Sceviour, who had skated north of the net, tossed the puck toward the goal. Halak made a stop, but he couldn't find the puck, and Hoffman moved quickly to tap it in.

Matheson put the Panthers up 2-0 with 6:47 left in the second period. He skated down the right side along the boards, blowing past Jake DeBrusk and Torey Krug before unleashing a wrist shot that snuck in under Halak's right arm.

Florida poured it on with Huberdeau's goal and the second one by Hoffman, which came on a power play that clicked with just 3.7 seconds left in the period.

The Panthers' power play has scored in 16 of their past 17 games.

--Field Level Media

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