Bobrovsky gets 6th shutout of season and Reinhart scores 54th goal as Panthers top Blue Jackets 4-0

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to tie for the NHL lead with six shutouts, Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal and the Florida Panthers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Thursday night.

“The guys worked hard,” Bobrovsky said. “Sometimes, it's not easy to play in those games, you know? But I thought the guys did a great job. They did the right things, played a great game and had a lot of offense.”

Bobrovsky, who has 44 career shutouts, is tied with Arizona's Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry for the most this season.

“We're all very happy for him,” Vladimir Tarasenko said. “He is one of the best goalies in the world and he is playing very well.”

Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Tarasenko also scored for the Panthers, who moved within a point of the idle Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists after missing Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators to rest.

Florida has one fewer game on its schedule than Boston while holding a 40-35 lead in regulation wins, the top tiebreaker.

Jet Greaves stopped 42 shots for the Blue Jackets, who are mathematically locked into the fourth-best odds in the upcoming NHL draft lottery.

“They were the better team for 60 minutes. There is no doubt about that,” Columbus defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “We could've done a lot better tonight. We didn't manage the puck very well through the neutral zone and they three-quarter iced us the whole game.”

SPECIAL VOICE

The Panthers honored longtime Columbus play-by-play announcer Jeff Rimer — the franchise's original TV voice when it was founded in 1993 — with a video tribute during his final game in South Florida before his pending retirement.

Rimer was a part of Florida's broadcast for 11 years (1993-2004) before spending the last 20 years of his 47-year broadcasting career in the Blue Jackets' booth.

UP NEXT

Blue Jackets: Visit Nashville on Saturday night.

Panthers: Host Buffalo on Saturday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) stops a shot on goal by Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues (17) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Columbus Blue Jackets center Alexandre Texier (42) and Florida Panthers right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (10) go after a puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Columbus Blue Jackets center Cole Sillinger (4) and Florida Panthers center Nick Cousins (21) go after the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (8) and Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) go after the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Alexander Nylander (92) gets control of the puck as Florida Panthers center Kevin Stenlund (82) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal at the start of the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Dmitri Voronkov (10) hits the puck as Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) protects the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 11, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Timothy Kennedy won a special election Tuesday for the New York congressional seat vacated by Democrat Brian Higgins.

Kennedy easily defeated Republican Gary Dickson for the upstate New York seat, helped by a 2-to-1 Democratic registration advantage in the district, which includes Buffalo, Niagara Falls and several suburbs.

Kennedy has been in the state Senate since 2011. Describing Washington as “chaotic and dysfunctional,” he said he would focus in Congress on reproductive rights, immigration and stronger gun laws like those passed in New York after a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket.

“We need to elect pro-democracy, anti-MAGA candidates all around the country this November,” Kennedy said in a victory speech, “and it starts here in this room in Buffalo, New York, tonight.”

Registration wasn’t Kennedy’s only advantage. The Democrat raised $1.7 million as of April 10, compared with Dickson’s $35,430 total, according to campaign finance reports. Kennedy spent just over $1 million in the off-season election, compared with $21,000 for Dickson as the candidates worked to remind voters to go to the polls.

Kennedy will serve in Congress for the rest of the year. He is on the ballot, along with Republican attorney Anthony Marecki, for the general election. On Tuesday, former town supervisor Nate McMurray, who planned to challenge Kennedy in a Democratic primary in June, said in a social media post that elections officials had removed him from the ballot because of insufficient signatures.

Earlier this year, the GOP’s slim House majority was narrowed in a closely contested Long Island-area special election that followed New York Republican George Santos’ expulsion from Congress. That race, won by Democrat Tom Suozzi, was viewed as a test of the parties’ general election strategies on immigration and abortion.

Dickson, a retired FBI special agent, acknowledged the challenges of running in the upstate district when he announced his candidacy at the end of February, saying he was in the race to give voters a choice. He said he supports Trump as the Republican nominee for president, while describing his own politics as “more towards the center.”

After conceding the race, Dickson told supporters he had no regrets about running.

Voting took place with Trump on trial in New York City in the first criminal trial of a former American president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

FILE - Sen. Timothy Kennedy, D-Buffalo, left, speaks in the Senate Chamber of the state Capitol, Feb. 6, 2017, in Albany, N.Y. In a special election Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between Kennedy, a Democrat, and Gary Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

FILE - West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson, who is on the Republican ticket for the 26th Congressional District special election, speaks while on his campaign trail, April 25, 2024, in Buffalo, N.Y. In a special election, Tuesday, April 30, voters in upstate New York's 26th Congressional District will choose between state Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat, and Dickson, the first Republican elected as a town supervisor in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca in 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)