Sam Reinhart scored twice and Aleksander Barkov had a hand in all three goals as the Florida Panthers held on for a rousing 3-2 road victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first meeting of the season between the cross-state rivals.
Aaron Ekblad opened the scoring 4:16 into the first period by wristing a tumbling shot from the right point by Andrei Vasilevskiy after Evan Rodrigues won an offensive draw to Barkov, who fed Gustav Forsling, who slid the puck over to his defense partner. The goal was Ekblad’s first of the season.
Reinhart notched his first of the night and 20th of the season 1:24 into the middle frame by finishing off a cheeky backhand dish from Rodrigues after he dumped the puck down low to Barkov from the blue line.
Nikita Kucherov ended Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout bid 29 ticks into the third when he fired home after Niko Mikkola kicked Victor Hedman’s shot towards the net right onto his blade. Nick Perbix drew the secondary assist on the goal which came seconds after Matthew Tkachuk gagged up the biscuit. Oops!
Reinhart would stun the crowd at Amalie Arena with a gorgeous, hardworking shorthanded goal 2:42 later to restore Florida’s two-goal advantage After Reinhart won a draw in the defensive end, Mikkola whipped the puck around the boards and Barkov worked it free from Kucherov at blue line. Reinhart tracked down the loose puck and bulled his way under Hedman before ripping a shot top shelf over Vasilevskiy. Wow!
The Lightning would strike back 20 seconds later when Mikey Eyssimont tallied from the right circle after Ekblad blocked his inital shot. Nice piece of work by Eyssimont, who plowed through Forsling’s attempted poke-check after taking an entry pass from Brandon Hagel. Darren Raddysh was credited with the second helper on the power-play goal.
Bobrovksy would stop Tampa Bay’s final six shots to backstop his team to its 20th win of the campaign. The two-point performance coupled with Toronto’s loss to visiting Ottawa vaulted the Panthers over the Maple Leafs and into second place in the Atlantic Division. The Cats return home for another toughie against the New York Rangers on Friday.
Nuts & Bolts
- After his electrifying brace, Sam Reinhart is fourth in the NHL with 21 goals. The shorthanded marker ended up being his fifth game-winner of the campaign.
- He only faced 29 shots, but Sergei Bobrovsky earned First Star honors for his performance. Bob had strong opening frame to allow his team to gain the lead and then robbed Brayden Point on a breakaway midway through the third.
- Nikita Kucherov’s goal was the 300th of his career and 24th of the season. Kucherov leads the league in scoring with 58 points.
- Speaking of milestones, Florida bench boss Paul Maurice joined Scotty Bowman (2,141) and Barry Trotz (1,812) as the only NHL coaches to have coached 1,800 games. PoMo is sixth in all-time wins with 837.
- Aleksander Barkov’s trio of helpers gave him his second three-point night of the month and third of the season. Barkov finished the tilt with three shots and won 60% of his faceoffs.
- For more on the first of three in the Sunshine State showdown, visit our pals at Raw Charge.