Game Recap: Panthers 6, Wild 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Matthew Tkachuk scored twice for the Florida Panthers in a 6-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.

Aaron Ekblad had a goal and two assists, and Mackie Samoskevich had a goal and an assist for Florida (20-11-2), which has won two straight after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Monday. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

“I think our last two games we were really good against two very, very strong rush teams,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “And they had their chances, but we did a pretty good job with them.”

Marco Rossi scored for Minnesota (20-8-4), which has lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves.

“I thought the game was competitive and then I think we made a couple of critical errors late in the second,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “And they scored on those. And then the third, we had a little bit of a push, but not much, and I think you start forcing things and they’re checking well and we didn’t generate much.”

Ekblad gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 3:48 of the first period with a wrist shot from the right point through traffic.

“Good screen in front,” Ekblad said. “Got lucky, found the post-in instead of the post-out for once.”

Kirill Kaprizov appeared to tie the game at 10:20 when he tipped in a Declan Chisholm shot, but Florida successfully challenged for goaltender interference on Rossi as he made contact with Bobrovsky while skating through the crease.

Rossi then tied it 1-1 at 16:11, finding a loose puck in front and lifting a backhand over Bobrovsky’s pad on the power play.

“The puck bounces are not going our way right now, but we just have to keep going,” Rossi said. “And we got to be ready for Friday now (against the Utah Hockey Club)."

Samoskevich responded to put Florida ahead 2-1 at 18:14. Ekblad won the puck in the neutral zone and passed ahead to Samoskevich, who beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Aleksander Barkov appeared to put the Panthers up by two at 13:37 of the second period with a one-timer in the slot off a pass from Tkachuk behind the net, but Minnesota successfully challenged for offside.

It was Barkov’s first game back after missing the past two with an illness.

“Felt good and happy to be back, especially with the win,” Barkov said. “So, really happy.”

Tkachuk pushed it to 3-1 at 15:28. Carter Verhaeghe’s centering pass went off Barkov’s skate in the slot, and the puck deflected to Tkachuk at the right post, where he poked it between Fleury’s pads.

He then put away a rebound in front on the power play for his second of the night to make it 4-1 at 18:54.

Niko Mikkola extended it to 5-1 at 11:10 of the third period with a snap shot from the slot before Eetu Luostarinen scored for the 6-1 final at 19:30.

“We just kind of grinded,” Barkov said. “We knew they were a really good defensive team, a lot of great offensive guys, and we just tried to peek the puck as much as possible. At some point we thought we’re [going to] break through and I think it was the second period when we got a couple more and so it worked for us.”

NOTE: Wild defenseman Brock Faber left late in the third period after getting hit in the face with a snap shot in tight from Luostarinen. Hynes said he was still getting evaluated postgame.