Panthers Gain Revenge On Golden Knights

     It was a rematch of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final as the Florida Panthers took the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday. The last time these both teams met the Golden Knights defeated the Panthers four games to one in the best-of-seven series for the Stanley Cup last season. 

     The contest was scoreless at the end of the first period. Vegas(21-9-5) moved to a 1-0 lead at 1:21 of the second period. Mark Stone got his 11th goal this season with a wrist shot. Ivan Barbashev was able to get the only assist. 

     Florida(19-12-2) tied it up 1-1 at the 8:58 mark. Sam Bennett snapped a shot from the right-circle dot for his fifth goal of the season. Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour were credited with assists on the play. 

     The Panthers made it 2-1 with 4:44 left in the second. Aleksander Barkov won a faceoff in the left circle and Evam Rodrigues passed it back. Gustav Forsling fired a slap shot from the left point for his fourth tally of the campaign. Barkov collected his 20th assist this year. 

     It became 2-2 with 22.3 seconds remaining in the period. Keegan Kolesar tapped a backhand pass in the neutral zone. Ben Hutton carried the puck around Aaron Ekblad down the left-wing boards. He sent a cross-ice pass from the left circle and Pavel Dorofeyev placed in a forehand shot from the right of the crease for the Vegas goal. 

     In the third period, Florida regained the lead 3-2 with the man advantage at the 6:10 mark. Matthew Tkachuk passed the puck from the right corner to Brandon Montour on the right point. He angled a pass and then Verhaeghe released a snap shot from the inner left circle for his 16th goal of the season. 

     The Cats added another power-play goal for a 4-2 lead at 8:09. Tkachuk pushed the puck from the right circle to Barkov in the right corner. He centered it and Sam Reinhart scored his 19th goal of the year on a wrist shot from the low right circle.