Panthers score twice in third to defeat Avalanche

DENVER -- Reilly Smith and Mike Matheson scored third-period goals to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Friday.
Smith scored shorthanded at 6:37 to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead with his sixth goal. Matheson made it 3-1 at 10:49 with a shot from the blue line for his third goal.
After a sluggish start, Smith has two goals and two assists in a three-game scoring streak.

WATCH: All Panthers vs. Avalanche highlights
"Reilly is playing like he did last year," Florida coach Tom Rowe said. "He came out of the gate a little slow, but he's a guy who the other team is targeting and checking, and it's not as easy. I think now he's adapting to that and finding ways to get open."
The Panthers (14-13-5), who lost 4-3 in a shootout Thursday to the Winnipeg Jets, ended a five-game road losing streak (0-2-3) and went 1-1-1 on their three-game road trip.
"It is nice to finish this road trip .500, that's always your goal," said Smith, whose shorthanded goal was the first allowed by the Avalanche this season. "A little bit of a tough start, but it's good to finish it off this way."
Panthers goalie James Reimer made 30 saves and is 5-0-1 in his career against the Avalanche.
"They are a skilled team," he said. "They have a lot of offensive capabilities, so I just tried to play our game and be big and square and rely on your team. We played a heck of a game tonight and so for me, it just makes my job that much easier."

The Avalanche (11-17-1), who have lost seven straight games at home (0-6-1), went 0-for-6 on the power play.
"Penalty-killing tonight was outstanding," Rowe said. "We had to kill off [six] penalties, and it really wore the guys down. Everybody dug deep and we just stuck with it and never got impatient. We let it come to us tonight and took advantage of our chances."
Colorado had two power plays in each period and is in a 2-for-18 slump in the past five games.
"This is brutal," Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. "Our power play was horrible. We didn't make any good plays, we forced everything. We knew they were going to come hard, and we weren't ready for it."
Florida forward Jaromir Jagr didn't have a point and remains three behind Mark Messier (1,887) for second on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 10:11 of the second period on a goal by defenseman Fedor Tyutin, his first of the season. MacKinnon was in the right corner when he passed to Tyutin for a shot while moving down the left circle.
The Panthers tied the game 1-1 at 16:10 on defenseman Jason Demers' fifth goal. Demers skated down the slot and took a shot that Calvin Pickard (20 saves) stopped. Demers continued to the net, and the puck went in off his left skate.

Goal of the game

The Panthers were killing Jagr's hooking penalty in the third period when forward Derek MacKenzie made a clearing pass that Smith gathered off the boards. He raced down the left wing, cut into the slot, and slipped the puck by Pickard for a 2-1 lead.

Save of the game

Pickard made a right-pad save on Jagr at 5:53 of the second period shortly after Jagr exited the penalty box after serving a tripping penalty.

Highlight of the game

Panthers left wing Colton Sceviour skated from the corner and passed to Matheson, who was just inside the blue line when he beat Pickard to the glove side for an insurance goal.

Unsung performance of the game

Defenseman Mark Pysyk played 6:59 of his 22:27 in ice time with Florida shorthanded, helping the Panthers limit the Avalanche to six shots while killing all six penalties.

They said it

"It's tough to explain. I'm sure guys are thinking about it now, and it's certainly not where we want to be. We'd like to be playing our best hockey in front of our fans, and it's been the opposite. We've played our best hockey on the road for most of our wins and for most of our losses." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on their 4-10-1 record at Pepsi Center
"James [Reimer] did a great job tonight. There were a couple shots that he made tremendous saves on, and there were a couple second chances where he stood in front of them. We got to give him the most credit." -- Panthers forward Reilly Smith

Need to know

The Panthers have killed 34 of 36 penalties in the past 10 games. ... Smith's shorthanded goal was his first of the season and Florida's third ... MacKinnon won 13 of 15 faceoffs, and the Avalanche won 43 of 59 for a 73 percent success rate.

What's next

Panthers: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Avalanche:At the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ALT, TSN3, NHL.TV)