Takeaways as Florida Panthers beat NHL-leading New York Rangers for third consecutive win
Sam Reinhart had another multi-point game, Aleksander Barkov reached another franchise record, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner as the Florida Panthers beat the league-leading New York Rangers 4-3 on Friday at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers improve to 21-12-2 on the season and are on a three-game win streak. The Rangers fall to 24-9-1.
Verhaeghe’s go-ahead goal came with 6:23 left in regulation when he fired a shot from the slot that got past Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick. It was Verhaeghe’s 17th of the season
Reinhart scored both his goals — Nos. 22 and 23 on the season — in the second period. Reinhart’s second goal came on the power play, giving him 10 of Florida’s 20 power-play goals this season.
Barkov had the primary assist on both of Reinhart’s goals as well as Evan Rodrigues’ goal late in the first period that opened scoring. Those three assists give Barkov 415 for his career, all with the Panthers. That ties the franchise record initially set by Jonathan Huberdeau.
It was the last major franchise milestone Barkov was chasing. He already holds the Panthers’ career marks for games played, goals, points, power-play points, power-play goals and game-winning goals.
Barkov has a team-leading 27 assists this season through 32 games played, including eight over the past three games. He has logged multiple assists six times this season, including each of his past three games.
Friday marked the 15th time Barkov has logged at least three assists in a game. He has done so three times this season — also Wednesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nov. 27 at the Ottawa Senators in addition to Friday.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Sergei Bobrovsky dominates again
While the goals and the offense get most of the recognition, Sergei Bobrovsky’s dominance in net over the Panthers’ three-game win streak should not go unnoticed.
The veteran goaltender stopped 81 of 88 shots he has faced over the three games.
On Friday, Bobrovsky stopped 31 of 34 shots he faced against the Rangers, including nine of 10 high-danger shots, according to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick.
Penalty kill again in top form
The Rangers entered Friday with the best power play in the NHL, scoring on 31.1 percent of their opportunities with a man advantage.
Florida’s penalty kill held New York at bay on its two power-play opportunities.
Time for a back-to-back
The Panthers have a quick turnaround for their final game of the calendar year. Florida hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday as part of their third back-to-back of the season and first at Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida split its previous two back-to-backs. The Panthers lost to the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Nov. 16 before beating the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Nov. 17, both on the road. The Panthers then beat the Ottawa Senators 5-0 on Nov. 27 before falling 2-1 in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 28.
Florida has four more back-to-backs this season, all on the road: Jan. 26 at the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jan. 27 at the New York Islanders, Feb. 14 at Pittsburgh and Feb. 15 at the Buffalo Sabres, March 4 at the New York Rangers and March 5 at the New Jersey Devils, and April 1 at Toronto and April 2 at Montreal.
.JPG)