The Florida Panthers started hot, crumbled, and then responded to the challenge from one of the league’s best with a flurry of third period goals to blow away the Colorado Avalanche by an 8-4 count at Ball Arena, extending its winning streak to seven games in the process.
Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring 1:10 into what turned out to be a very wild tilt. After Sam Bennett held the puck in the zone a second time, he sent it to Matthew Tkachuk behind the net and he found Verhaeghe in the right circle for the quick finish.
Sam Reinhart doubled the lead 1:52 later when he deflected Gustav Forsling’s soft shot past Ivan Prosvetov after Aleksander Barkov bounced the puck off the boards to the defenseman at the left point.
Reinhart struck again at 7:41 after Barkov sprung him on a breakaway that he capped off by rifling a shot by Prosvetov with Cale Makar in futile pursuit. The second assist on the goal went to Evan Rodrigues.
The Avalanche came out for the second period like an angry bunch of Yeti and reeled off three goals in a span of 4:14 to even the game.
Makar solved Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot from the right circle 21 seconds into the frame with the assists going to fellow big guns Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Defenseman Josh Manson quickly added on, from Valeri Nichushkin and Logan O’Connor, 31 seconds later. Bobrovsky stopped Manson’s shot, but the puck went up in air and over him before coming down and finding its way over the goal line. Unlucky…
After setting up Manson’s goal, Nichushkin got one of his own at 4:35 with the home team up a man. Nichushkin tipped Makar’s shot from long range past Bobrovsky after Rantanen fed back to the right point.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson stopped the bleeding at 8:50 when he took a pass from Barkov at the left point and moved to the middle before snapping off a shot that found its way through trafiic and eluded Prosvetov. Rodrigues collected his second secondary on the goal, which ended Prosvetov’s afternoon.
Jonathan Drouin would forge another tie on a breakaway at 3:31 of the third after beating Niko Mikkola to the puck in the offensive zone after Eetu Luostarinen’s pass was blocked off by Samuel Girard in the other end. That’s four goals in the last three games for Drouin.
Reinhart completed his hat trick with a one-timer from between the circles on a power play at the 5:59 mark after the Cats worked a beautiful bumper play involving Tkachuk, Barkov (who got the assists) and Brandon Montour to reclaim the lead.
Kevin Stenlund bagged a huge insurance marker three minutes later. Stenlund won an offensive draw to Ryan Lomberg, who pushed the puck back to him, and then whipped a backhander past relief keeper Alexander Georgiev for his career-high seventh goal.
The Avalanche would botch a goalie pull, resulting in Tkachuk scoring easily from center ice at 16:17 with Georgiev trapped at the blue line. Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad would get the helpers on Tkachuk’s 200th career goal.
Tkachuk would return the favor to Verhaeghe, who extended his goal-scoring streak to five straight games, by feedinf him for an empty-netter with 3:06 left on the clock. The secondary assist on the play would go to Forsling.
The muy caliente Panthers will get a couple of days off before they play the finale of the four-game road trip against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
Peaks & Valleys
- After his hat trick, Sam Reinhart is tied for second in the NHL with Nikita Kucherov with 28 goals. Reinhart became the first Cat to hit the 50-point mark this season. Reinhart has poured in ten goals over the last seven games.
- Carter Verhaeghe became the first Panther in franchise history to produce a goal and an assist in five consecutive games.
- Aleskander Barkov played his 700th NHL game and set up four goals while wearing a full face shield after getting elbowed in the mug by Alec Martinez in Las Vegas.
- Verhagehe (7G/6A), Barkov (13A) and Matthew Tkachuk (3G/10A) have each racked up 13 points during Florida’s seven-game winning streak. Tkachuk, who had four points against the Avalanche, has lit the lamp in three straight games.
- Nathan MacKinnon’s primary assist on Cale Makar’s goal extended his season-opening home point streak to 21 games. He’s produced 16 goals and 28 assists at Ball Arena.
- Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves to collect his 20th win. Ivan Prosvetov stopped nine of 13 shots before departing early. Alexander Georgiev also made seven saves while surrending two goals in relief.
- Valeri Nichushkin became the third player Colorado skater to reach 20 goals this season, making the AValanchethe first team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers to boast at least three 20-goal scorers through 40 team games.
- For the other side of Florida’s 25th win, stop by Puck Yeti.