Verhaeghe Scores 100th Career Goal, Panthers Begin California Road Trip With Fifth-Straight Win

The Florida Panthers kicked off their three-game California road trip on the right track, defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-3 at the SAP Center Tuesday night.

Here’s some updates from last night’s late west-coast game in case you missed it. 

— Florida had five different goal scorers Tuesday night; Ryan Lomberg, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Kevin Stenlund and Aleksander Barkov. 

— Carter Verhaeghe’s game-tying goal in the third period was the 100th of his career. The 28-year-old has seven goals on the season. 

— Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist against the Sharks, extending his point-streak to five games. Reinhart has scored at least two-points in each of the past five games. He leads the Panthers in scoring with 23 points. 

—  Anthony Stolarz, had 19 saves on 22 shots in his second win of the season. The Panthers’ backup goalie has a 2-1-0 record this season. 

— Florida won their fifth-straight game, improving their record to 10-4-1. They are third in the Eastern Conference (Boston, New York Rangers).

— Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe all had two points Tuesday night. 

— Florida scored twice on the power play. This is only the second time all season they’ve converted more than once with the man-advantage (Nov. 12 vs Chicago).  

— The Panthers will make the short trip from San Jose to LA for a back-to-back in Southern California. They’ll face the Kings on Thursday and the Ducks on Friday. 

— Sergei Bobrovsky, who got the night off in San Jose, will most likely get the start against LA.

— Friday’s matchup against Anaheim will be the first time Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas faces his former team. Gudas, 33, spent the last three seasons with the Panthers. Former Panther Frank Vatrano is also with the Ducks.