Improving to 19-19-4, Florida has won three of its last four games.
"A big power-play goal at the end," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "We've had a whole bunch of games this year, to be honest with you, where I don't think it was a particularly just result, so I'm happy for them. They battled for it."
Following some great work from Anton Lundell behind the net, Aleksander Barkov took a pass from his new linemate and lifted one of his vintage backhand shots over Alexander Georgiev from near the right of the net to give the Panthers an early 1-0 lead at 9:07 of the first period.
Sent up the ice after a diving poke from Bennett, Brandon Montour took a pass from Carter Verhaeghe and ripped home a shot from the right circle to extend Florida's lead to 2-0 at 11:52.
Less than two minutes later, Bennett was rewarded for his aforementioned hard work with a goal of his own when he potted a pass from Sam Reinhart -- a Sam-tastic connection, if you ask me -- from the doorstep while on the power play to up the lead to 3-0 at 13:47.
At 19:06, Evan Rodrigues deflected in a shot to get the Avalanche on the board and make it 3-1.
With the Panthers outshooting the Avalanche 17-4 in the second period, Tkachuk scored the lone goal of the middle frame when he swept in a rebound to make it 4-1 at 19:06. In addition to that lopsided advantage in shots, Florida also led 6-1 in high-danger shot attempts in the period.
"Our second period was dominant in zone time and puck control and chances," Maurice said.
Turning a blowout into a nailbiter in the blink of an eye, the Avalanche scored twice within a span of just 20 seconds in the third period to trim their deficit to 4-3. After Mikko Rantanen scored to make it 4-2 at 6:29, Nathan MacKinnon beat Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 4-3 at 6:49.
Not long after an offside call negated what would have been the game-tying goal, the Avalanche struck again -- and this one would count -- when J.T. Compher jumped on a loose puck in the slot, turned and lifted a shot that hit off Bobrovsky before going in to suddenly make it 4-4 at 12:07.
Earing a late power play after Nick Cousins drew an incredibly important interference penalty on Rantanen, Tkachuk crashed the net and took several whacks at the puck before it went off a defender's skate and across the goal line to put the Panthers back on top 5-4 with just 3:30 left in regulation.
Set to compete at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in South Florida next month, Tkachuk leads the Panthers in goals (22), assists (29) and points (51). Steadily chipping in on offense throughout the whole season, he's the third player in franchise history to hit 50 points in 39 or fewer games.
"He's got a nose for the net," Montour said of Tkachuk. "He's there for a reason and he's a top player in this league. A big player comes up at big times. Some big goals there."
