Roberto Luongo played in his 1,000th career NHL game Thursday and his Florida Panthers teammates made sure he marked the occasion with a win.
Aleksander Barkov, Frank Vatrano and Jared McCann provided the offense and Luongo made 26 saves as the Panthers kept their dwindling playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.

The 39-year-old veteran earned his 471st win of his career, and 212 have come over two stints with the Panthers. He is just the third goaltender in NHL history to play 1,000 career games, joining Patrick Roy (1,029) and Martin Brodeur (1,266).

Only two goalies have played more than 1,000 games before tonight... now @strombone1 's the third. 👏 #NHLMilestones via @SAPSports : https://t.co/fxolRFPtzU pic.twitter.com/UopGW073OV
— NHL (@NHL) April 5, 2018

“When something so special like that is happening, it’s a lot sweeter to get the win," Florida forward Vincent Trocheck told reporters after the game.
The two points also keep the Panthers in the race for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Florida (42-30-8) trails the Flyers (41-26-14) by four points in the standings, but has two games remaining compared to Philadelphia's one.

The Flyers can secure a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs if they get at least a point in their regular season finale Saturday against the Rangers. If they don't, it opens the door for Florida, which would need to win both games of its season-ending back-to-back against the Sabres and Bruins.