Tkachuk scores twice, Panthers recover for win against Avalanche

DENVER -- Matthew Tkachuk broke a tie with 3:30 left in the third period, and the Florida Panthers recovered for a 5-4 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Tkachuk was credited with a power-play goal when Colorado defenseman Cale Makar cleared his rebound through the crease and off the skate of forward Evan Rodrigues and into the net.
"It's huge. Wouldn't expect it from anyone else," Florida forward Sam Bennett said of Tkachuk. "He's scored big goals for us all year, and there's just another one."

Tkachuk scored twice, and Aleksander Barkov, Brandon Montour and Bennett each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (19-19-4), who held a 4-1 lead after the second period. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves.
"I thought we built really well through two [periods]. They had some zone time on us early in the third, [but] I didn't think it was particularly dangerous," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "Didn't like the two that we gave up, but the next shift out was hard. [Nick] Cousins in on the forecheck, and we kind of righted the ship a little bit after that. Big power-play goal at the end.
"We've just had a whole bunch of games this year, to be honest with you, that I don't think it was a particularly-just result. I'm happy. I'm happy for them. They battled for it."
Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (20-16-3), who lost their fourth straight at home (0-3-1) despite rallying with three goals in the third. Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.
"We didn't play well enough for 40 minutes, in my opinion. It's just not good enough," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I think we get some shooting luck and more intensity to our game in our third and it starts to turn around for us, but it wasn't there. Didn't manage the puck good in the first. Didn't like the way we checked in the second."

Barkov gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 9:07 of the first period when he backhanded a shot at the side of the crease.
Montour extended the lead to 2-0 when he took a pass off his skate and beat Georgiev with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle at 11:52.
"'Benny' came back, back-checked pretty good, made a good play in our own end," Montour said. Me and [Marc Staal] both jumped in there. Saw an odd man rush, and Carter [Verhaeghe] gave it to me in the slot and it's nice to get that one."
Bennett made it 3-0 on the power play at 13:47 when he one-timed a pass from Sam Reinhart.
"I think we did all the right things. We came out flying," Bennett said. "[Bobrovsky] made some huge saves for us, and we were doing everything right. So, that's about as good of a start to the game as we can have."
Andrew Cogliano cut it to 3-1 at 19:06 on a redirection of Kurtis MacDermid's shot from the right circle.
Tkachuk gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead at 19:08 of the second. Georgiev denied Barkov's shot from the left circle, but Tkachuk scored on the rebound from the far side of the crease.
"Obviously, he's got a nose for the net," Montour said. "He's there for a reason, and he's a top player in this league. So, a big player comes at big times and some big goals there."

Rantanen cut it to 4-2 on a wraparound at 6:29 of the third, and Nathan MacKinnon made it 4-3 just 20 seconds later at 6:49 with a wrist shot from the right circle.
"The first period, [we] gave up three goals right away. It's tough to come back, [but] we did," Rantanen said. "It [stinks], the end there. Their goal, we almost got a kill and then 10 seconds left, they score."
Compher tied it 4-4 at 12:07 when he beat Bobrovsky from between the circles.
The goal came after Artturi Lehkonen had one taken away at 11:11 after video review determined Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews preceded the puck into the offensive zone.
"I thought we did a good job of composing ourselves. They came at us hard," Bennett said. "They capitalized, and then we did a good job of resetting, refocusing, and just going out there and playing. And Tkachuk got the job done."
NOTES: The Panthers became the first NHL team since the Philadelphia Flyers on March 18, 2021, to win in regulation after giving up a lead of three goals or more in the third period. … Tkachuk extended his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists) and reached 50 points (22 goals, 29 assists) in the fewest games of his NHL career (39). Tkachuk, who is on pace for his second straight 100-point season, became the third player in Panthers history to get 50 points in 39 or fewer games, joining Pavel Bure (34 in 1999-00) and Jonathan Huberdeau (37 in 2021-22, 38 in 2019-20). … Georgiev has started each of Colorado's last 12 games, the longest streak of his career.