Florida's first-period goals both came from New York turnovers. Lafreniere lost the puck in the attacking zone, which led to him racing down the ice the other way and Lundell scoring a goal. Reilly Smith lost the puck in the defensive zone, leading to Verhaeghe's goal.

The Rangers allowed three first-period goals in their first six games.

“We weren't particularly defensive here; “It should be us tonight,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I think they were at 5.17 goals per game and we're missing our Selke (Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov) in the middle, so we had to play a really tough defensive game and when that happens you get some chances.”

Lafreniere made it 2-1 at 4:44. Adam Fox protected the puck on the right wall and found Lafreniere, who cut through the left circle. Lafreniere used his backhand and pushed the puck past Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky stopped Jonny Brodzinski on a breakaway at 5:45, Filip Chytil on a breakaway at 6:33 and seven seconds later in the slot and Kreider twice in front of the net on a power play at 15:12.

His right skate save on Vincent Trocheck at 6:15 of the second period also preserved the one-goal lead and was perhaps his most timely save of the night.

“The puck was right there and I just threw at it as much as I could,” Bobrovsky said. “Luckily it hit my toe.”

The Panthers scored less than a minute later. Bennett extended the lead to 3-1 at 6:59 with a high deflection off Niko Mikkola's shot from the left circle.

Bennett has scored goals in three straight games and leads the Panthers with six. They all came into the high-danger zone, the most in the NHL from that area of ​​the ice.

“He’s taking control,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “He handles the puck well. When our team plays, gives and passes possession of the puck and supports each other, I think we can be very effective. He’s off to a great start.”

The Rangers had a 6-on-4 power play, with Shesterkin using an extra skater, at 16:57 of the third period, but were unable to score. In the power play it was 0:4.

“I thought they were better in the first, I thought they were better in the second and I thought they were better in the third,” Laviolette said. “We’re better than that and we didn’t play like that tonight.”

NOTES: Florida played its seventh straight game without Barkov (lower body), who could return Saturday against the New York Islanders. …Rangers forward Artemi Panarin's six-game point streak (six goals, seven assists) to start the season ended. … The Rangers sent forward Matt Rempe to Hartford of the American Hockey League after the game. Rempe was missing for the fifth time in seven games on Thursday.