Sharks Bite Panthers In Tkachuk Season Debut

     The Florida Panthers were defeated by the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena. It was the Panthers only home game during a 10-game stretch over a three-week period

     Panthers right wing Matthew Tkachuk made his regular season debut with the team tonight. He had not participated in a contest since Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final last June when the Cats captured their second straight Stanley Cup title. 

     There was no scoring by either team in the first period. San Jose(25-20-3) took a 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the second period on the 14th goal of the season by Will Smith.

     The Sharks increased it to 2-0 at the 2:41 mark of the second. Vincent Desharnais got his first tally of the year.

      It became 3-0 for San Jose at 6:12 of the frame. Mario Ferraro collected his fourth goal of the campaign.

     Florida(25-20-3) cut it to 3-1 just 42 seconds into the third period. Aaron Ekblad passed from the right corner. Eetu Luostarinen released a wrist shot from the right point for his fifth goal of the season.

     The Panthers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 2:55 to go. The Sharks picked up an empty-net goal by Barclay Goodrow with 2:20 left in the third.