RECAP: Panthers 4, Coyotes 1

TEMPE, AZ – Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk scored 42 second apart in the third period to help lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Tuesday.

Improving to 23-12-2, the Panthers have won each of their last five games.

“It’s been fun to be a part of,” Reinhart said of the team’s current run. “It’s not always the easiest flying across the country and getting right into one. They made it tough tonight. They fly around the ice. They’re a good hockey team. It didn’t really seem like a 4-1 game.”

Less than three minutes into the first period, rookie Logan Cooley thought he broke the ice for the Coyotes, but his goal came off the board due to clear goaltender interference.

Finding the back of the net for the fourth time in his last five games, sizzling sniper Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring later in the period when he found a loose puck in the slot and ripped a laser past Karel Vejmelka to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 10:45.

The Panthers briefly lost Eetu Luostarinen for part of the first period when the forward was knocked out of the game after absorbing a dangerous hit from Alex Kerfoot at Arizona’s blue line. Thankfully, Luostarinen came back out before the intermission.

Putting a bow on a 15-save first period, Sergei Bobrovsky, with Arizona on the power play, kept Florida’s lead intact when he robbed Kerfoot on a one-timer from the slot.

With both goaltenders standing tall, the second period came and went without a goal.

But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t eventful.

With less than a minute left on the clock, chaos ensued when Coyotes forward Jason Zucker recklessly plowed Nick Cousins into the boards with a hit from behind after taking exception to a hit that Cousins had dished out just a moment earlier.

Coming to Cousins’ defense, Gustav Forsling dropped the gloves with Zucker.

Per HockeyFights.com, it was Forsling’s first fight in the NHL.

But with the tight locker room the Panthers have, no incident goes unpunished.

After the dust had settled, Zucker was penalized five minutes for boarding, five minutes for fighting and was given the boot with a game misconduct; Forsling received two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.

“He just saw the aftermath and it was a no-brainer for him,” Reinhart said of Forsling answering the bell. “He’s such an important piece of this locker room. I think it says a lot about this group.”

On the penalty kill early in the third period, the Coyotes evened the score when Kerfoot got free and beat Bobrovsky from the slot for a shorthanded goal to make it 1-1 at 3:17.

Earning another power play later in the period after Anton Lundell was tripped, the Panthers regained the lead when Reinhart crashed the net and buried a slick centering feed from Alekasnder Barkov to make it 2-1 at 7:56 with his team-leading 24^th goal of the season.

A monster on the man advantage, Reinhart leads the NHL with 11 power-play goals.

“I liked our response, for sure,” Reinhart said. “We didn’t try and break it open by any means. We stuck with it. We controlled the play again in their end again, were able to get back on the power play and take advantage.”

On Reinhart’s goal, Barkov recorded the 416^th assist of his NHL career, breaking a tie with former teammate Jonathan Huberdeau for the most assists in franchise history.

“All those milestones feel amazing,” said Barkov, who also holds the franchise records for goals (254), points (670) and games played (698), just to name a few major ones. “I’m honored and fortunate that I get to be a Florida Panther for such a long time.”

With adrenaline pumping and momentum on their side, the Panthers added another goal soon after when Matthew Tkachuk crashed the net to increase the lead to 3-1 at 8:38.

Rewarded for dropping the gloves earlier in the game, Forsling, who came back near the end of the third period, buried a long empty-net goal to put Florida up 4-1 at 17:39.

Due to all his penalty minutes, Forsling’s first shift of the third didn’t come until 16:38.

“He was fresh,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice smiled.

With the win, the Panthers have certainly gotten their four-game road trip started off on the right foot.

“We’re down to three games, which is nice,” Maurice said. “The more days you come to the rink, because they spend so much time together, if you’re in a good mood off of wins, feeling good about your game, the closer your team gets.”

THEY SAID IT

“It seems like every other week, certainly since I’ve been here. Another record for him? No surprise.” – Sam Reinhart on Aleksander Barkov’s latest milestone

“It was just a 60-minute effort by us. Honestly, I didn’t feel like we gave up much. We could’ve been a little better offensively. Not saying creating more chances, but keeping the puck in for a longer time. Other than that, I thought it was pretty solid.” – Aleksander Barkov 

“I liked the composure in that game. I felt it was similar to the Montreal game. I think the other team was defending pretty hard and it was a tight. I didn’t feel like we were trying to break anything loose or come out of it. That was true when they scored. Shorthanded goals against can hurt you, and they didn’t let it.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart has scored five goals in his last four games.

- Aleksander Barkov went 11-for-15 (73.3%) in the faceoff circle.

- Niko Mikkola posted a team-high five hits.

- Aaron Ekblad saw a team-high 24:02 of ice time.

- The Panthers led 16-4 in shots on goal in the third period.

- Florida led 13-3 in shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Sam Bennett was on the ice.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It’s time to go back to Sin City.

Visiting Las Vegas for the first time since the Stanley Cup Final, the Cats will close out their season series with the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.

In their first meeting this season, Florida topped Vegas 4-2 on Dec. 23 in Sunrise.