Sam Reinhart scored for the fifth-straight game and Anthony Stolarz made 27 stops in his debut as the depleted Florida Panthers kept the San Jose Sharks winless with a 3-1 victory at Amerant Bank Arena.
After a scoreless first period that saw Florida put a whopping 15 shots on Mackenzie Blackwood, it was the Sharks who took advantage of a holding call on Oliver Ekman-Larsson to open the scoring 8:30 into the middle frame.
William Eklund exchanged the puck with Thomas Bordeleau before feeding out in front against the grain from below the goal line to Fabian Zetterlund for the easy put-away. Stolarz thought Zetterlund was on his way to the other side of the net and was caught completely out of position, as was defenseman Dimitry Kulikov who also went the wrong way.
The Panthers would tie the score 1:18 later with a hard-working shift in the San Jose end. Gustav Forsling loosened the puck by stepping into Matt Benning along the left boards. Eetu Luostarinen collected and sent it behind the net to Matthew Tkachuk, who centered in front to a open-wide Carter Verhaeghe for the finish.
Reinhart picked up his seventh of the season at 15:23 with the Cats on a 4-on-3 power play. Tkachuk sent a short cross to Evan Rodrigues, who tipped it back to Ekman-Larsson. Blackwood was able to deny Ekman-Larsson’s drive, but Reinhart was able to sweep the rebound home while down on one knee. Hats off to the foursome on the ice for this nicely executed goal.
Stolarz stopped all nine shots faced in the third period and Kevin Stenlund dotted the “i” in win with an empty-netter with two seconds left in regulation. Tkachuk and Anton Lundell got the assists on Stenlund’s clincher. It was Lundell first point of the season.
While it wasn’t a masterpiece, the Panthers did what they needed to do and came away with two points against the league’s bottom-feeder. Florida has now won nine-straight games against San Jose. Tkachuk is still looking for his first goal, but his two primary assists and seven shots helped his club get back to .500. The Panthers looked better on the power play, generating a goal and nine shots in four chances, but the penalty kill giving up another was frustrating. Florida will get some time off before finishing the homestand on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken.
Teeth & Tales
- Anthony Stolarz earned First Star honors in his Panthers debut. It was Stolarz’ first regular season action since February 7, when he and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime.
- Captain Aleksander Barkov missed the game due to illness. He was replaced by rookie Mackie Samoskevich, who registered one shot on goal and a hit in 8:16 TOI in his third NHL game.
- Mackenzie Blackwood delivered a quality start, stopping 32 of 34 shots to help keep his team close throughout.
- 25-year-old William Lockwood played his first tilt as a Panther and finished with two shots and two hits while logging 7:31 of ice time
- Ex-Cat Anthony Duclair had a tough go of it in his return to Sunrise. Duclair was on the ice for the goals by Carter Verhaeghe and Kevin Stenlund. He was credited with two shots and a hit.
- For the other side of this one, visit our FHF sister site Fear The Fin.