The Panthers chalked up their 22nd home victory of the season, which leads the National Hockey League. The Cats now have a 22-3-0 record in South Florida.
The Golden Knights had their franchise record road point streak of eight games snapped and are 7-1-1 in their last nine away games. They were playing their third contest of a four-game road swing throughout the Southeast.
Vegas(25-16-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 7:51 mark of the first period. Shea Theodore angled a pass from the top of the zone to the left point and Mattias Janmark connected a cross-ice pass. Zach Whitecloud took a wrist shot from the top right circle that went by Spencer Knight for his sixth goal of the year.
Florida(30-9-5) picked up a shorthanded goal with 28.1 seconds left in the first to tie it 1-1. Aleksander Barkov fed a pass from the neutral zone to Anton Lundell on the left point. He returned the puck from the left wing and Barkov smacked a one-time slap shot from the top right circle past Robin Lehner for his 19th goal of the season. Barkov compiled his 200th NHL goal and his 500th NHL point on that play. He along with Jonathan Huberdeau have both amassed at least 500 career points with Florida.
In the second period, the Panthers moved ahead for the first time 2-1 at 1:18. Sam Bennett skated out of his zone with the puck, crossed the Golden Knights blue line and ripped a snap shot from the top left circle for his team-tying 19th goal this season. Bennett set a career-high with his most goals scored in one season passing the mark of 18 goals he got with the Calgary Flames during 2015-16.
The Cats added two additional empty-net goals in the final minute of the third period. Mason Marchment found the net with 58.1 seconds to go and picked up his third goal in the last two contests. Bennett collected his club-leading 20th goal of the season with 28.3 seconds remaining.
No comments:
Post a Comment