Takeaways as Panthers score three times in third to beat Coyotes for fifth straight win
The Florida Panthers scored twice in a span of 42 seconds in the third period to take the lead for good in a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday to begin a four-game road trip.
The Panthers improve to 23-12-2. Their five-game win streak matches their season-high. The Coyotes fall to 19-15-2 and lose for just the second time in their past 10 home games at Mullett Arena.
Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead goal with 12:04 left to play when he deflected in a sharp-angle shot from Aleksander Barkov on the power play. The goal was Reinhart’s team-leading 24th of the season. The assist was Barkov’s 416th of his career, putting him alone at the top of the Panthers franchise record book. Barkov tied the record on Friday with his three-assist outing against the New York Rangers.
Matthew Tkachuk then put the Panthers up 3-1 with 11:22 left to play when his shot deflected off a Coyotes defender and into the net. It was Tkachuk’s first goal since Dec. 10 and first that wasn’t on an empty net since Dec. 2 against the New York Islanders.
Carter Verhaeghe opened scoring midway through the first period with his 19th goal of the season, and Gustav Forsling tacked on an empty-net goal with 2:21 left to play.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 22 shots he faced, with the only goal he gave up coming on a shorthanded breakaway to tie the game at 1-1 3:17 into the third period. The Panthers responded over the next five minutes to regain the lead for good.
In his four starts over this Panthers win streak, Bobrovsky has a .927 save percentage (102 saves on 110 shots on goal). On the season, Bobrovsky is 18-9-1 in 28 starts.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Gustav Forsling drops the gloves
The Panthers were without Forsling for the majority of the third period and for good reason.
Forsling did his part to stand up for a teammate when Arizona’s Jason Zucker boarded Nick Cousins from behind with less than a minute left in the second period. Forsling’s retaliation and ensuing fight resulted in 17 penalty minutes —two for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
“He just saw the aftermath and it was a no-brainer for him,” Reinhart said. “He’s such an important piece of this locker room. I think it says a lot about this group.”
But Forsling, who has been one of the Panthers’ top defensemen this season, quickly made an impact when he returned in the final minutes, sealing the win with his empty-net goal. It was his fifth goal of the season.
Zucker was given a game misconduct on the boarding against Cousins, who played just one shift in the third period after the hit.
Score first and good things tend to happen
With the win on Tuesday, the Panthers are now 16-0-2 this season when scoring first.
The only times Florida scored first and did not win were their overtime loss against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 30 and their shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 28.
The road trip continues
Tuesday was the first of four stops for the Panthers on this final extended cross-country road trip. They next play the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, with puck drop scheduled for 10 p.m.
After that, it’s a 4 p.m. Saturday matchup with the Colorado Avalanche before wrapping up the trip against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
This story was originally published January 2, 2024 at 11:45 PM.
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