5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers Fend Off Coyotes for 6th Straight Win

SUNRISE, Fla. -The hottest steam in South Florida keeps on rolling.
Fueled by a pair of power-play goals, the Panthers extended their winning streak to start the season to six games with a 5-3 win over the Coyotes at FLA Live Arena on Monday.

"We're confident," Panthers forward Frank Vatrano said. "We know how good of a team we have. We just need to keep going game by game and keep putting up these wins early."
After being held without a shot for nearly the entire first period, the Coyotes scored on the first puck they finally got on net when Clayton Keller beat Spencer Knight on a breakaway to make it a 1-0 game at 17:43 -- the first contest this season that the Panthers failed to light the lamp first.
But with just 17 seconds left in the first, ageless wonder Joe Thornton, who is in his first season with Florida, tapped a dish from Sam Reinhart past Carter Hutton on the power play to even things up at 1-1.
The 1,530th point of his storied career, the 42-year-old veteran is now one point shy of tying Oilers legend and Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for 13th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
"We've got a good team in here, and we know that," Thornton said. "It's been a lot of fun to play here. We've got a great group of guys, and it's been nice to start off so good. That's a bonus."
Getting another goal from in front to give Florida the lead at the 6-minute mark of the second period, Vatrano followed-up on a shot from Brandon Montour and whacked the puck past Karel Vejmelka, who replaced Hutton (lower-body injury) for the Coyotes after the first, to make it 2-1.
Finding the back of the twine for a second time on the power play, the Panthers padded their lead even further when a heavy shot from Aaron Ekblad took a fortuitous bounce off an Arizona defender on top of the crease and then sailed straight past Vejmelka to make it 3-1 at 10:19.
Picking up his fifth point in the last two games, Jonathan Huberdeau, who entered the game as Florida's scoring leader, then scored what proved to be a crucial goal when he cashed in on a 2-on-0 rush with Sam Bennett to increase the advantage to 4-1 with 13:06 remaining in regulation.
"We're a confident group right now," Bennett said. "It's a lot of fun out there."
Showing some fight late in the game, the Coyotes then trimmed their deficit down to 4-3 when Liam O'Brien and Phil Kessell each scored at 11:57 and 12:31, respectively, in the third period. But with 38.9 seconds left, Anthony Duclair iced the game with an empty-net goal to make it 5-3.

"Sometimes you get ahead and you get a little careless," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said of the game's tight finish. "There were a couple situations that we misplayed, and both ended up in the net. We held it down at the end, but you don't take anything for granted in this game."
Between the pipes, Knight, who never really faced enough shots to get into a good rhythm, made 18 saves to improve to 2-0-0 on the season and 6-0-0 in his career. According to NHL PR, Knight's six straight wins are tied for the fourth-best start by a goaltender in NHL history.
"These [games] aren't easy for goaltenders," Quenneville said. "I thought he battled through it."
Closing out their two-game homestand, the Panthers will attempt to push their winning streak to seven games when they host they Bruins in a key divisional matchup on Wednesday.
Here are five takeaways from Monday's win in Sunrise…

1. JUMBO'S FIRST

Thornton's first goal of the season came at the perfect time tonight.
With the Panthers trailing 1-0 despite dominating play for the majority of the first period, the future Hall of Famer evened things up on the power play when he drove toward the net and tapped in a pass from Reinhart to make it 1-1 with just 19 seconds left in the opening frame.

"Monty shot it from the middle of the ice, Sam just made a great play over to me and I had an open net," Thornton said. "It started with a good faceoff win and just throwing pucks to the net."
A milestone machine in the midst of his 24th season in the big show, the goal was the 426th of Thornton's career. Additionally, it was also his 1,530th career point. With two more points, he will overtake Coffey for sole possession of 13th place on the league's illustrious all-time scoring list.
After Coffey, Mark Recchi is next on the list in 12th place with 1,533 points.

2. REINHART'S MILESTONE

Reinhart is the latest Panther to add another milestone puck to his mantle.
With the primary assist on Thornton's goal, the 25-year-old forward recorded the 300th point of his NHL career. In the midst of his first season with the Panthers after coming over from Buffalo in an offseason trade, he's produced five points (two goals, three assists) in six games thus far.

"A good play by Sam to just kind of whack it over," Thornton said of Reinhart's dish.
After going without a point in the first two games, Reinhart is now on a four-game point streak.

3. VATRANO ON THE REBOUND

It's not surprising to see a man with the nickname "The Tank" crash the crease.
Despite being surrounded by a trio of Coyotes, Vatrano managed to fight through them all and pounce on a loose puck in the paint after a shot from Montour and send it past Vejmelka for his first goal of the season to give the Panthers a 2-1 advantage six minutes into the second period.

"It feels good," Vatrano said of scoring his first goal of the season. "It was an all-around effort."
After registering 18 goals and eight assists in 56 games in 2020-21, Vatrano has tallied a goal and an assist through six games this season. Helping the Panthers win the possession battle tonight, the team controlled 61.54% of shot attempts when he was on the ice at 5-on-5 play.
"We did a good job of capitalizing on our chances tonight," Vatrano said.

4. EK-BACK AT IT AGAIN

There's nothing like seeing an "Ek-blast" to start off your week.
With the Panthers already up 2-1 in the second period, Ekblad locked, loaded and fired a shot from the point that bounced off a Coyotes defender and into the cage to make it 3-1 at 10:19.

"I think Ekkie did a great job shooting from the middle," Thornton said.
Earning at least one point in five of six games to start the season, Ekblad leads all Panthers defensemen in goals (3) and points (6). Entering the night with a 13.6% success rate on the power play, Florida also showed improvement on the man advantage while going 2-for-3.
"When you get pucks through, good things happen," Thornton said.

5. HUBERDEAU STAYS HOT

Don't look now, but Huberdeau is on fire.
After racking up three points during Saturday's win in Philadelphia, the dynamic winger added another goal and assist against the Coyotes tonight. Coming up in the clutch, the third-period goal that he scored on a 2-on-0 rush with Bennett to make it 4-1 ended up as the game-winner.
"I think we just read it as it went," Bennett said of the scoring sequence. "He made a great play over, and I just gave it back. He's not going to miss those ones. You don't get those too often, so it was nice to have that."

Florida's leading scoring in each of the two previous seasons, Huberdeau once again finds himself on top of the team's leaderboard with eight points (three goals, five assists) through six games.