Veteran NHL forward Patric Hornqvist honored by Panthers before clash against Penguins

Patric Hornqvist scored 264 goals and recorded 543 points in 901 games of his legendary NHL career.

Veteran NHL forward Patric Hornqvist honored by Panthers before clash against Penguins

Aleksander Barkov (L) Patric Hornqvist with his family (C) and Sidney Crosby (R) at the ceremonial puck [Pic Credit: NHL]

As the festive season rolls on across the US, celebrations were seen in NHL on Friday night when the Florida Panthers took on the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Amerant Bank Arena. As the two teams locked horns for a crucial game, they celebrated and honored one of their former forward player Patric Hornqvist.

The veteran forward was forced to retire after a brain injury and thus ended a 15-year career. During his tenure in the NHL, he played for six seasons with the Penguins and was a crucial part of their back-to-back Stanley Cup triumphs in 2016 and 2017. At the end of his career, he would play three seasons with the Panthers.

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Since his retirement, the 36-year-old forward has been part of the scouting team of the Panthers. So this game of his two former teams marked the perfect occasion to celebrate his career. Before the game, a lengthy highlight video was played in his honor with tributes from his former teammates including Shea Weber, Aleksander Barkov, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Sidney Crosby.

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The two-time Stanley Cup winner would then go on to take part in the ceremonial puck drop. He would position himself in between his two former captains, Barkov and Crosby as the celebrations began.

Penguins drop fourth consecutive game as Panthers emerge 3-1 victors

As the game between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins garnered attention for the celebration of Patric Hornqvist, the match was equally exciting as well. In this matchup of Hornqvist’s two former teams, the Panthers handed the Penguins their fourth successive loss as they ran out 3-1 winners on a celebratory night.

The Pens came into this match on a three-game losing skid. In this span, they had suffered back-to-back late heartbreaks against the Philadelphia Flyers in shootout and overtime losses. Their 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning raised concerns about their performance going forward.

Panthers-Penguins game
A snap from the Panthers-Penguins game (Pic Credit: AP)

Despite Tristan Jarry‘s 30 stops for the Penguins, they were unable to beat Sergei Bobrovsky in the opposition net. The Panthers goalie made 26 saves as the forward line of the Penguins had another inconsistent performance. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby claimed they gave themselves a chance but have to keep on performing like this every night to try and get better.

We gave ourselves a chance. You've got to do that every night. Doesn’t guarantee anything. But we gave ourselves a chance, and we’ll try to keep getting better here.
Sidney Crosby on Penguins performance through ESPN.

This loss has put the Pens in unwanted territory. With an 11-12-3 record, they are second to bottom in their division table. Things do not get easier for them as they take on the in-form Arizona Coyotes.

While they lost their previous game, the Coyotes have beaten five of the previous Stanley Cup winners on the bounce, and with the form the Penguins are, they could make it a six-game winning run against former champions.

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