Panthers’ fourth line was ‘difference makers’ in win over Sharks. Plus Verhaeghe’s milestone
The Florida Panthers got the production they needed from their top shooters in their 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Sam Reinhart scored his team-leading 12th goal on a second-period power-play. Carter Verhaeghe started Florida’s needed three-goal flurry in the third by scoring on the man advantage himself. Aleksander Barkov iced the game with an empty-net goal. Matthew Tkachuk assisted on both of the power-play goals to extend his point streak to seven games.
But it was the other two goals that the Panthers scored that stand out in their fifth conscutive win.
Both came from Florida’s fourth line. And both came at integral moments.
After a sluggish first 10 minutes of the game from both sides, Ryan Lomberg opened scoring on the shift immediately following a failed power-play attempt. He scooped up a loose puck in the offensive zone, pushed forward and fired off a wrist shot from the right circle past San Jose goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to give Florida a 1-0 lead 12:34 into regulation. It was his second goal of the season.
While Lomberg gave the Panthers an early lead, Kevin Stenlund put Florida ahead for good late. The Sharks had rallied for a 3-2 lead with a pair of early third-period goals before Verhaeghe tied the game with 9:54 remaining with his power-play goal. Just over a minute after Verhaeghe scored, Stenlund tipped in an Uvis Balinskis shot from the point for his fourth goal of the season to put Florida up 4-3.
“It was important,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said postgame of Lomberg and Stenlund scoring. “They’ve been good for us all year and done really important things. Their last game they didn’t love, so important for them to come out and be difference makers tonight. They also need to do that for themselves. They work hard, they battle.”
Carter Verhaeghe’s milestone
Verhaeghe’s power-play goal was the 100th of his NHL career. Of those 100, 91 have come in 217 games with the Panthers. He scored nine goals in 52 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It feels good,” said Verhaeghe, who has seven goals this season and four over Florida’s five-game winning streak. “One hundred goals in the NHL is an accomplishment. As a kid, you always believe in yourself, but it’s a slim chance of even making it to the NHL. I’m just lucky to be playing hockey and to score goals in the NHL.”
This and that
▪ Reinhart on Tuesday logged his fifth consecutive multi-point game, adding an assist on Barkov’s empty-net goal in addition to his second-period power play goal. He is just the seventh player in Panthers history to have a streak of that length. The others: Pavel Bure (seven, March 11-23, 2001), Barkov (six, March 29-April 8, 2022), Jonathan Huberdeau (twice; six from Nov. 24-Dec. 4, 2018 and five from Feb. 16-24, 2022), Evgenii Dadonov (five, March 1-8, 2018), Brett McLean (five, March 6-16, 2008) and Chris Gratton (five, Feb. 3-28, 2006).
Reinhart has also logged multiple points in 10 of 15 games this season and has 23 total points (12 goals, 11 assists).
▪ The Panthers have won each of their past 10 games against the Sharks.
▪ Florida allowed just two shots on goal over the final 12:39 after San Jose briefly took a 3-2 lead.
▪ Barkov’s empty-net goal was just the eighth of his 11-year NHL career.
▪ The Panthers have four players with at least 10 assists already this season: Tkachuk (14), Reinhart (11), Barkov (10) and Evan Rodrigues (10).
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