Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk each logged three points while Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell and Gus Forsling all had multi-point outings
Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk each logged three points while Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell and Gus Forsling all had multi-point outings
For the second time this month, the Florida Panthers got the best of the Arizona Coyotes in a game between two teams who appeared to be bitter rivals.
Never mind the fact that they are from different sides of the country and play only twice a season.
The Panthers came out swinging, in more ways than one, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back, defeating Arizona by a final score of 6-2.
The game basically picked up where the last matchup between the Cats and Yotes ended, though the blood started boiling well before the game actually began.
Several players on both teams gathered at center ice during pregame warmups, a group that included Ryan Lomberg, Jonah Gadjovich and Matthew Tkachuk for Florida.
Once the game began, there were two fights, one between Lomberg and Jack McBain and another between Gadjovich and Liam O’Brien, within the first seven seconds of the opening puck drop.
As quickly as the fighting came, Florida would start pumping in the goals soon after.
Tkachuk got things started with a quick turnaround shot off the half boards that eluded Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka to make it 1-0 Panthers at the 1:53 mark.
Not long before the game hit the 10-minute mark, Florida added a pair of goals 17 seconds apart.
First it was another power play goal by Sam Reinhart that was set up by Tkachuk, then moments later Sam Bennett finished off a nice feed from Carter Verhaeghe to give the Cats a 3-0 lead just 9:01 into the game.
Florida continued to pour it on during the middle frame, with Tkachuk picking up his second of the night and Anton Lundell getting in on the fun on a nice feed from Reinhart.
The big difference was Sergei Bobrovsky. He was asked to make just five saves during the first period, but then came up with a whopping 20 saves during the second, including eight high danger shots.
Fourth liner Jonah Gadjovich scored his first goal as a Panther during the third period immediately after Bobrovsky made a sparkling save on Arizona’s Nick Bjugstad.
Bobrovsky’s shutout would be ruined by a pair of third period goals by Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, but he’d be the first to tell you that all that mattered was getting the two points.
The Cats now hit the road for a back-to-back in Pittsburgh and Long Island.
Here are some thoughts and observations from Wednesday’s battle with the Coyotes:
Tkachuk has five points over his past two games after logging a goal and an assist against the Yotes. He’s up to 21 points in 11 games in January.
Reinhart has scored in 10 of Florida’s 11 games this month. He has 12 goals and 16 points during that stretch.
Verhaeghe added three assists to his impressive scoring stretch, now up to 23 points over his past 15 games.
Gus Forsling’s two assists gave him four points over his past three games (2-2-4). Forsling has three goals and nine points in 10 games this month.
Jonah Gadjovich came an assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice coached his 1,813th game, moving into second place on the NHL's all time coaching list.
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