Sam Bennett scored and Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots for the Panthers (4-3-1) before being replaced by Spencer Knight (six saves) to start the third period. Florida had its four-game winning streak (3-0-1).

“There’s an emotional level you have to get to, to play the way we play, or to play well in an NHL game and we weren’t there,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “If you play a game where your best players weren’t your best players across the board, the coach didn’t get them right. … We weren’t anywhere near where we needed to be.”

Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals 22 seconds apart.

Marco Rossi scored at 11:40 when he deflected a shot in Kaprizov’s slot, and Marcus Johansson extended the lead at 12:02 by one-timed a pass from Boldy in the left face-off circle.

Boldy made it 3-0 on the power play at 1:40 of the second period, deflecting a point shot from Zuccarello.

“It was nice to score some goals. We know this team is streaky and good at home,” Zuccarello said. “If they get one, they usually get a few more. It was nice to get the momentum going.”

Bennett cut the score to 3-1 at 11:19 after Carter Verhaeghe’s centering pass went in from his right skate.

“From the start, I thought we looked pretty good,” Bennett said. “They got a few there, and we got away from our game. We got out of the precheck, were a little too soft. We had to be more physical, more involved in the game.”