#florida-panthers

#florida-panthers

Nathan MacKinnon, Gavin Brindley and defenseman Sam Malinski each contributed a goal and an assist and Martin Necas and Josh Manson also produced multi-point games with two assists apiece. MacKinnon's second period marker was his 392nd, which made him the franchise leader in that category since the team relocated from Quebec City for the 1995-96 season, and essentially ended the game.

As the clock headed towards overtime, Lundell won an offensive zone draw back to Aaron Ekblad, who pushed the puck forward to Sam Reinhart. Reinhart sent a pass from the right boards down low to Eetu Luostarinen, who tipped it across the goal mouth. Lundell was able to bat the puck out of the air and just inside the post to give Florida its third straight win.

Slumping Florida finally earned a point in its current six-game homestand, which is turning out to be downright disastrous, in Thursday's 2-1 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators. New dad Carter Verhaeghe scored the Panthers' only goal, with the assists going to Sam Bennett and A.J. Greer, late in the first period. The Cats couldn't add on and Ryan O'Reilly tied the tilt with 6:19 left in regulation before former Bolt Steven Stamkos won it with 57 seconds left in the extra session.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 31 shots to make Sam Reinhart's first period snipe stand up in Florida's 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. It was Bobrovsky's second shutout of the season and the 51st of his career. Gustav Forsling drew the lone assist on Reinhart's goal, which gave Sam 1 the NHL lead in game-winning goals (five). A couple of milestones took place in Thursday's contest. Defenseman Jeff Petry suited up for his 1,000th NHL game and forward prospect Jack Devine played his first.

The Florida Panthers will be without one of their top defensive forwards, Eetu Luostarinen, on a week-to-week basis after he suffered a unique off-the-ice injury. According to team reporter Jameson Olive, head coach Paul Maurice announced that Luostarinen recently suffered burns during "a barbecue accident." Luostarinen's burns weren't severe enough to require an overnight hospital stay, but the Finnish forward's return date is unknown until he feels comfortable enough to put his gear back on.

The Florida Panthers get another day off to bask in the goal-scoring glory of Monday night's wild 8-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Florida has posted a 2-1 record on its current five-game homestand and will face the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at Amerant Bank Arena. The Devils were soundly beaten 5-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena last night.

Sidney Crosby opened the scoring and closed the door on the Cats with a pair of power-play goals. The legendary Penguin also had an assist to earn First Star honors. A tripping penalty on Jeff Petry led to Crosby's first marker 6:24 into the tilt. After Erik Karlsson ripped a shot towards the net that struck Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin and Rust joined forces to work the puck free to set up Crosby's wrister, which easily beat a swimming Sergei Bobrovsky, from the left circle.

Florida overcame a slow start, and a two-goal deficit, and looked to be on the cusp of another victory in Philadelphia, but a needless offensive zone penalty on Sam Bennett snuffed out a late power-play chance and helped swing momentum back the other way as the Cats eventually fell 5-2 to the Flyers. Sam Reinhart had a strong game, scoring a shorthanded goal and setting up a power-play marker for Bennett, which tied the tilt midway through the final frame.