Sam Reinhart had his second straight two-goal game, and Aleksander Barkov posted his second consecutive three-assist contest as the host Florida Panthers knocked off the New York Rangers 4-3 on Friday night in Sunrise.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal to make it 4-3 with 6:23 left in regulation, and the Panthers held on from there.
Florida, which scored the game’s first two goals, improved to 14-0-2 when scoring first.
Reinhart leads Florida in goals (23) and points (44). He started the day tied for the NHL lead with nine power-play goals, and he added another one on Friday.
The Rangers, tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the most points in the NHL (49), got goals from Artemi Panarin, Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad (short-handed). Panarin leads the Rangers in goals (20) and assists (27). Zibanejad extended his point streak to nine games.
Rangers backup goalie Jonathan Quick made 28 saves in a rare loss for him this season as his record dropped to 9-2-1.
Florida also got a goal from Evan Rodrigues and 31 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, who leads the Eastern Conference with 17 victories.
The Panthers opened the scoring with 75 seconds left in the first period. After winning a battle for the puck along the boards, Rodrigues ripped a top-shelf shot that beat Quick to the near side.
Florida made it 2-0 with 7:12 expired in the second as Barkov, operating from behind New York’s net, fed the puck to Reinhart, who scored into the open right side of the net.
The Rangers, though, tied the score with two second-period goals just 73 seconds apart.
On the first goal, Ryan Lindgren kept the puck in the offensive zone. Alexis Lafreniere then shoveled a quick lateral pass to Panarin, who beat Bobrovsky stick-side.
New York’s K’Andre Miller then pounced on a Panthers turnover and passed to Cuylle for the tying goal. Florida’s Nick Cousins, chasing the play, inadvertently crashed into Bobrovsky a split second after the goal.
Florida regained the lead, 3-2, on Reinhart’s power-play goal with 2:53 left in the second. Reinhart, who had Quick screened, tipped in Barkov’s shot from the point.
New York tied the score on Zibanejad’s one-timer from the left circle with 7:45 left in third. Chris Kreider’s pass set up Zibanejad for the short-handed goal.
But a little over a minute later, Verhaeghe spun and scored just past Quick’s right skate to give the Panthers a 4-3 lead.
–Field Level Media
