The Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars met on Saturday night in Sunrise in a matchup of conference powerhouses.

As they’ve done from time to time, the Panthers put the clamps down defensively, limiting the Stars to very little at even strength.

The game ultimately was decided in a shootout, with Florida coming away with a 4-3 win at Amerant Bank Arena.

It wasn’t until early in the second period, but Florida picked up that all important first goal of the game.

The play started in the Panthers zone, when Anton Lundell picked up the puck after a strong backcheck.

Lundell quickly fed Eetu Luostarinen, who found a streaking Brad Marchand heading into the Dallas end of the ice. Marchand sent a quick wrist shot past Casey DeSmith’s glove to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead just 1:48 into the middle frame.

Just over two minutes later, Sam Reinhart extended his goal-scoring streak to four games when he shot a puck from the right corner, right along the goal line, that went off DeSmith’s leg and into the net.

For Reinhart, it was the 300th goal of his career.

Later in the period, Dallas quickly tied the game with a pair of power play goals just 14 seconds apart that came after a high-sticking double minor call on Seth Jones. One was off a one-timer by Wyatt Johnston and the other came on a slick deflection by Justin Hryckowian.

The feisty Panthers kept the pressure on DeSmith during much of the third period and finally broke through with less than eight minutes to go.

Sam Bennett found the puck at the side of the Dallas net and fired a shot through a sprawling DeSmith to restore Florida’s lead.

Despite holding the Stars without a shot for much of the third period, a great deflection by Mikko Rantanen beat Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game late in the third period.

The game would ultimately be decided in a shootout, with Marchand picking up the only goal and Bobrovsky stopping all three Dallas shots to earn the Cats a pair of points against a very good Stars squad.

On to Anaheim.

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Photo caption: Nov 1, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand (63) scores against the Dallas Stars during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)