Florida Panthers prospect Denis Malgin is certainly making some noise at this year’s rookie tournament.
After scoring twice and adding an assist Saturday against Nashville, the diminutive Swiss forward poured in three goals to lead the Panthers to a 5-2 over their counterparts from the Washington Capitals.
The Caps opened the scoring at 3:49 of the first period when Trevor Boyd got the puck past Colin Stevens.
Florida replied 24 seconds later on Kyle Rau’s rebound goal.
Malgin gave the Panthers the lead at the 11:58 mark, roofing the puck on Vitek Vanacek while on a 2-on-1 break.
Zach Sanford notched a shorthanded marker for the only goal of the middle frame to tie the game at two.
Malgin scored twice early in the third to put the Cats in command. The first goal came with Florida on a power-play and the second came off a deflection.
Juho Lammikko scored for the second-straight game to complete the scoring with a late empty-net goal.
Stevens went the distance for the Panthers, stopping 34 of the 36 shots he faced.
Florida will the Tampa Bay Lightning (2-0) Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. with the winner taking tournament bragging rights.
The Bolts beat the Nashville Predators by a 4-1 count in Sunday’s early game. Nashville (0-2) will finish the tournament off against the Capitals (0-2) in Tuesday’s early game at Panthers IceDen at 10:00 a.m.