The Florida Panthers dobubled up the Dallas Stars 4-2 to sweep the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal at Nokia Arena on Saturday after winning the first game by a 6-4 count.
After scoring first on Friday, Evan Rodrigues did it again, leaving his feet to deflect in Niko Mikkola’s shot from left point with 5:15 remaining in the first period. The secondary assist went to Sam Reinhart, his 20th point of the young season.
The Panthers would take advantage of a hooking call on Esa Lindell to go up by two at 8:47 of the middle frame. Matthew Tkachuk got his third of the season when he redirecred Uvis Balinskis’ shot down and between the legs of Casey DeSmith. Aleksander Barkov drew the second assist on Tkachuks; third, delighting the crowd in Tampere.
Dallas would light the lamp twice in a 34-second span to even the tilt midway through the period.
Former Panther Evgenii Dadonov took a long crossing pass from Wyatt Johnson and beat Spencer Knight from the left circle at 11:22 with Barkov off for hooking after a good zone entry on the rush. Matt Duchene, who had two assists on Friday, got the secondary helper.
Duchene would add a goal at the 11:56 mark. After winning an offensive draw (against Sam Bennett) back to Thomas Harley, Duchene went to the net to convert a rebound, on his backhand, created by Miro Heiskanen’s drive from just inside the blue line.
Grinder A.J. Greer struck the decisive blow 2:32 into the third when he collected the puck in the right circle after Tomas Nosek kicked him the puck after a faceoff and ripped a wrister past a helpess DeSmith. It was Greer’s first goal as Panther and Nosek’s first-ever point as a member of the Cats.
Knight would turn aside seven shots over the final twenty minutes, keeping the Panthers ahead by one until Reinhart hit double-digit goals with DeSmith off for an extra attacker with exactly one minute left on the clock after he combined with Eetu Luostarinen to move the puck out of the Florida zone and into the vacant Dallas net.
With the back-to-back victories in Finland, the Panthers winning streak is now at five games. Except for a little blip in the middle, Knight gave them what they needed between the pipes, finishing with 23 saves. The Eastern Conference-leading Cats will return to South Florida and enjoy some time off before hosting the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
Giants & Dwarfs
- The seven Finnish players from Florida and Dallas combined for 12 points in the series. Aleksander Barkov led the way with five, Niko Mikkola and Esa Lindell each had two, while Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Miro Heiskanen had one apiece. Roope Hintz did not figure in the scoring in either game.
- Producing yet another multi-point effort, Sam Reinhart is up to 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 13 games, the fewest required to reach 20 points in franchise history. Reinhart matched Barkov’s five points in Tampere.
- In addition to scoring the game-winning goal on his only shot on Casey DeSmith, who finsihed with 21 saves, First Star A.J. Greer was credited with three hits and went plus-one in 10:26 TOI.
- Matt Duchene had back-to-back multi-point games in Finland and leads the Stars in goals (7) and points (15).
- After having his five-game goal streak end on Friday, Sam Bennett was held off the score sheet, bringing his six-game point streak to a halt.