Panthers Extend Winning Streak to Six, Defeat Knights in Vegas

The Florida Panthers scored three times on the power play and went perfect on the penalty kill in their 4-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Panthers are riding a season best six-game win streak. They improved to 24-12-2 on the season with the win and are just two points behind the Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. 

Sergei Bobrovsky had 26 saves in his 19th win of the season. The Panthers’ goalie has won his last five starts.

Thursday’s win marked the first time the Panthers defeated the Knights in Vegas.

“I think we played a really good team effort,” Bobrovsky said. “Penalty kill was on, the power play was great as well. We beat a good team. It’s a really tough building to get the win, so we’re really happy.”

Florida’s second line of Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk carried the bulk of the offense on Thursday. All three players scored against the Knights. 

Tkachuk had two points, while scoring in consecutive games for the first time this season. Tkachuk extended his point-streak to four games — picking up six points over that span. 

Verhaeghe got his 20th goal of the season and finished the night with two points. Verhaeghe has hit the 20 goal mark in each of his last three seasons with the Panthers.

Florida’s leading scorer Sam Reinhart grabbed his 25th of the season 5:23 in the third to make the game 4-1. Reinhart, who was named an All-Star for the first time in his career on Thursday, has the third most goals in the NHL. 

The Panthers shut it down defensively and scored four unanswered goals after Pavel Dorofeyev opened the scoring 3:59 into the game for the Knights. 

Florida’s special teams played a huge part in the win on Thursday. The Panthers scored three times on the power play and killed off all six of their penalties — two of which were 5-on-3 advantages for the Knights. 

“[The] Powerplay did a really good job tonight, but it’s hard to not talk about how great the PK and Bob were,” Tkachuk said. “That 5-on-3, two of them, that was the difference in the game. Our PK has been unreal honestly the whole year.”

Florida played most of the game missing two of their top-line forwards. Panthers’ captain Aleksander Barkov left the game in the first after taking an accidental elbow to the face behind the play. Evan Rodrigues would also leave the game after blocking a shot in the first. Neither player finished the game. 

Panthers coach Paul Maurice couldn’t provide an update on either player after the game. He said they’ll have an update on Friday. 

Florida won the first two of their four-game Western Conference road trip by a combined score of 8-2. They’ll finish the trip with games against the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues.  

Panthers Notes

F,Nick Cousins, did not play against Vegas (Concussion Protocol)

F, Jonah Gadjovich, played in first game since Dec. 8

Panthers are second place in Atlantic, third in East