Florida Panthers stay scorching hot with 10th straight win

The Florida Panthers have the longest winning streak in the NHL this season.

The Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Tuesday night to pick up their 10th straight win in 2015-16. The Montreal Canadiens had nine straight wins to start the season. The Washington Capitals also won nine straight. 

It’s the longest winning streak in the league since the Boston Bruins won 12 straight in 2013-14. The Anaheim Ducks also won 10 straight that year.

“We’re trying not to think too much about the streak,” forward Jonathan Huberdeau said via NHL.com. “It’s 10, but it’s to win every game. Ten, might as well just keep going and win every game.”

Jaromir Jagr continued his recent hot goal scoring ways, finishing off a feed from Huberdeau in the first period. The score was the 43-year-old Jagr’s 14th goal of the season, which put him at 736 for his career – five behind Brett Hull for third on the NHL’s all-time list. Jagr has four goals in his last four games.

“(The pass) was beautiful,” Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said, again per NHL.com. “(Huberdeau) made a great power move going through the middle and then he made that pass to (Jagr) and it was just a great goal. He played a great game tonight for us.”

The game was at 2-1 entering the third period before goals by Corban Knight (5:35 mark) and Huberdeau (16:06 mark) put the game away. Brandon Pirri fired the empty netter. Center Aleksander Barkov added an assist. 

Goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped 31 of 32 shots on goal to pick up his 419th win of his career. He’s just four wins behind Tony Esposito for seventh on the NHL all-time list. The victory was Luongo’s eighth straight, which tied a career high.

“We’ve been playing really well on the road. We try to keep our game simple,” Luongo said according to the Miami Herald. “We’re not really focused on the streak too much.

“We’re excited to be part of it, but at the same time we are focused on playing hard and winning games and that stuff will kind of take care of itself.”

With 52 points, the Panthers lead the Atlantic Division over the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings. Both teams have 47 points.

With 34 points, the Sabres have the second-fewest in the NHL. A year ago Buffalo had the worst record in the league. 

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper