Takeaways as Florida Panthers’ top line dominates in win over Dallas Stars
The Florida Panthers watched as their two-goal lead disappeared in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the third period on Wednesday.
They didn’t have to wait long to get their lead back — and keep it — en route to a 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars at Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida improved to 15-8-2 and snapped its three-game home losing streak. Dallas falls to 14-7-3.
After Dallas tied the game at 3-3, Aleksander Barkov scored the go-ahead goal 4:52 into the third period, burying a wrist shot from the side of the net after the puck bounced off the glass behind the net. Evan Rodrigues gave the Panthers a needed fifth goal at the tail end of a power play with 12 minutes left to play. Rodrigues also scored the first goal of the game 4:39 into regulation. Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida.
Radek Faksa, Mason Marchment, Evgenii Dadonov and Thomas Harley scored for Dallas, with the goals from Marchment and Harley coming on the power play.
The Panthers wrap up their three-game homestand against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. After that, they play their next five games on the road, starting Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets before playing four games in Western Canada.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Top line dominates
The bulk of the Panthers’ offensive production on Wednesday came from its top forward line of Rodrigues, Barkov and Reinhart.
They scored four of Florida’s five goals, with three of those tallies coming at even strength.
Rodrigues posted his second four-point game of the season with two goals and two assists. Reinhart scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season and produced his 12th multi-point game of the season. And Barkov had a goal and an assist for his ninth multi-point outing of the season.
Third period goalfest
The Panthers entered their game against the Stars having given up just 17 goals in the third period, the fourth-fewest in the NHL behind only the Washington Capitals (13), Los Angeles Kings (14) and Ottawa Senators (16).
On Wednesday, Florida gave up three goals in the final frame, two of which came on the power play.
But when it mattered most, the Panthers clamped down on defense to seal the win. They held Dallas scoreless for the final 7:34, including nearly two minutes with the Stars going with an empty net to bring an extra skater on the ice.
Dallas managed just one shot on goal when they had six skaters. Three other shots missed wide and four were blocked.
The Panthers, for their part, scored twice in the third period and are still outscoring opponents 30-20 in the third period on the season.
Niko Mikkola producing on offense
Raise your hand if you had Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola logging double-digit points within the Panthers’ first 25 games of the season?
Well, that’s where we are.
Mikkola had a pair of assists on Wednesday — the primary on Rodrigues’ first-period tally and the secondary on Verhaeghe’s second-period score — to bring his season point total to 10 (three goals, seven assists).
It’s just the second time Mikkola has had at least 10 points in a season over his six-year NHL career. He logged 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 54 games during the 2021-22 season with the St. Louis Blues. Other than that, he never had more than three points in a season before this season.
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 9:39 PM.
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