Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals just 1:59 apart in the third period, leading the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. This game marked a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final.
Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling also found the net for Florida, while Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Brandon Montour each tallied two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the Panthers.
Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for Vegas. The Golden Knights, who defeated Florida in five games for the title last spring, matched a season-worst by losing their third consecutive game. They are now 10-9-4 after starting their title defense with an impressive 11-0-1.
Jiri Patera made 38 saves for Vegas. The Panthers, who had lost four of their last five games, managed to bounce back on Saturday.
“They got our best tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We were pretty good. … We couldn’t win the Cup or lose the Cup tonight, but we did as well as we could have.”
The Panthers came out strong, taking 15 of the game’s first 16 shots. Including shot attempts that missed the net or were blocked, Florida had 29 of the game’s first 30 tries on goal in the first 15 minutes.
“We’re grinding and trying to get pucks to the net,” Verhaeghe said. “We’re getting excellent chances. Some of them aren’t going in, but it was nice to see a couple go in finally, and hopefully, we can continue that.”
Memories of last June’s Cup Final were evident, including the hit from Vegas’ Keegan Kolesar that left Tkachuk with a fractured sternum. Kolesar fought Florida’s Ryan Lomberg midway through the first period; the fight lasted just one punch, with Lomberg landing the only blow.
Kolesar seemed shaky initially but later assisted on the second Vegas goal.
“He gave me the chance to kind of even the score. Obviously, he’s a pretty tough customer,” Lomberg said.
Despite the early flurry of shots, Patera held strong, and Stone opened the scoring early in the second period. Bennett tied it for Florida, and Forsling put the Panthers on top. Dorofeyev tied the game with 22.3 seconds left in the second period, staying locked in on a deflected pass into the slot.
Verhaeghe’s goal from the high slot just 17 seconds into a power play put Florida ahead for good, and Reinhart’s insurance tally came about 2 minutes later, with Tkachuk perfectly screening Patera.
Vegas went 0-3-0 on its trip east, facing Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Florida.
“It’s probably a good time for the break,” Stone said. “This wasn’t our best road trip by any means. We didn’t play enough 60-minute hockey in those three games, but we’ve been through adversity before and got to come out of the other side of the break rested and recovered.”
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: Visit Anaheim on Wednesday.
- Panthers: Visit Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
