RECAP: Panthers 6, Predators 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – Carter Verhaeghe scored a pair of goals to help lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-2 beatdown of the Nashville Predators at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Improving to 10-3-1, the Panthers have won six straight games.

“Getting the lead was huge, and then carrying it over and extending it was nice,” Verhaeghe said of the team's scoring spree. “I thought we played a solid game. A bit of a low-energy game, but I thought we battled and played well.”

On the second half of a back-to-back, the Predators couldn’t even catch their breath.

Just 3:33 into the first period, Sam Reinhart put the Panthers on top when he beat Scott Wedgewood on a wrap-around to make it 1-0 with his team-high 11^th goal of the season.

The NHL’s current leader in goals, Reinhart has scored in five straight games.

“There’s no weaknesses in his game,” captain Aleksander Barkov said of his linemate.

Less than two minutes later, Matthew Tkachuk doubled the lead and lit the lamp for the fourth time in his last five games when he buried his own rebound to make it 2-0 at 5:14.

In the waning minutes of the first period, the Panthers kept their two-goal cushion intact with a crucial penalty kill in which Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all three shots that he faced.

Moments after their power play expired, the Panthers struck again in the second period when Evan Rodrigues beat Wedgewood with a rocket from in close to make it 3-1 at 1:56. Starting to really heat up, Rodrigues has touched twine in each of the last three games.

Padding the lead for the Panthers on the power play, Verhaeghe powered through a hook and backhanded the puck into the cage to make it 4-0 at 11:18. With the primary assist on the goal, Uvis Balinskis recorded the first multi-point game of his career.

“That’s pretty nice, but most important is the team win,” Balinskis said.

Earning their own trip to the man advantage, the Predators got on the board when Steven Stamkos buried a one-timer from his usual spot in the left circle to make it 4-1 at 13:52. Not doing much outside of that goal, Nashville was outshot 20-4 at 5-on-5 through two periods.

Closing out the middle frame and ushering in “Mambo No. 5,” Verhaeghe made it 5-1 when he deposited a perfect cross-ice pass from Barkov for his second goal of the game at 19:32. With the helper, Barkov became the first Panther to record 100 career multi-assist games.

Early in the third period, tempers flared between the two teams, resulting in several penalties being handed out and three players from each squad ending up in the box.

With the game in hand and the Panthers earning another trip to the power play, head coach Paul Maurice opted to send his fourth line out. Cutting to the net, Tomas Nosek managed to use his body to direct a pass from Nate Schmidt across the goal line to extend the lead to 6-1 at 11:23.

In the midst of his 10^th NHL season, the goal was Nosek’s first-ever on the power play.

“He’s waited a while for it,” Maurice said. “He’ll remember that one.”

Shortly after, Juuse Parssinen scored to trim Nashville’s deficit to 6-2 at 11:51.

Between the pipes, Bobrovsky finished with 16 saves for Florida.

“We played with good energy and started really well,” Barkov said. “We played hard. We knew they were on a back-to-back, so they were probably ready to play. I think we were even more ready to play, so we had a good start and it carried all the way to the end.”

THEY SAID IT

“It’s always nice when you score however many goals you score – six goals. Guys are feeling good and making plays. It’s always good for the confidence.” – Carter Verhaeghe

“We wanted to get a good start. We wanted to play simple. We wanted to be predictable. I think we did that.” – Aleksander Barkov

“The power play’s cooking right now.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart’s five-game goal streak is tied for longest in the NHL this season.

- Twelve different Panthers recorded at least one point.

- Tomas Nosek went 10-for-13 (76.9%) in the faceoff circle.

- The Panthers required 14 or fewer games to reach the 20-point mark in a season for the fifth time in franchise history.

- The Panthers surrendered just eight shots on goal at 5-on-5.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made four high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will go for their seventh straight win when they return to the ice to host the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

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