"That's our responsibility, to put points up on the board and help this team win hockey games," Hoffman said of his streak, which currently stands at the longest active in the NHL. "Like I said, when things are going your way you just want to ride that wave as long as you can."
The Panthers acquired Hoffman in June from the San Jose Sharks - who had picked him up from the Senators just hours earlier -- for a second-round pick in 2019 NHL Draft and fourth- and fifth-round picks in 2018. In 13 games with Florida, the 28-year-old has tallied 12 points, including seven goals, which places him in a tie with Evgenii Dadonov for the team lead.
In Saturday's 4-2 win over the New York Islanders, Hoffman extended his streak with a crucial goal that tied the game late in the second period. With time ticking down, he flipped a backhand shot on net from the red line that bounced off a defender and in to make it a 2-2 game at 19:14.
Hoffman needs to pick up a point in each of the next two games to tie Pavel Bure at 13 for the longest streak in franchise history, which the Hall of Famer set during the 1999-2000 campaign.
"The shot was going to the net, and I just tried to whack it toward the net again," Hoffman said of his fortuitous goal against the Isles. "When you've got things going your way, things just seem to fall -- you know, a little puck luck. It was a big timely goal for us."
The Panthers (5-5-3) remain undefeated since picking up a 4-2 win over Winnipeg in the finale of the 2018 NHL Global Series in Helsinki, Finland on Nov. 2. That game also marked the return of starting goaltender Roberto Luongo, who has gone 3-0-0 with a .946 save percentage since.
Luongo, 39, has stopped 100 of 105 shots (.952 percent) he's faced this season.
"It all started in Finland," said Barkov, who scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period of Saturday's win. "We played two really good games… that's when we got our confidence. That's when we learned how to win games. And, of course, Lu has been unbelievable in our net and giving us a chance to win every game."
Like the Panthers, Ottawa also played last night. Trailing 4-2 to start the third period, the Senators came back to shock the Atlantic Division-leading Lighting with a 6-4 come-from-behind victory in Tampa. Ottawa (7-7-3) has now scored 16 goals over its last three games, winning two of them.
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot leads all NHL blueliners in scoring with 22 points.
"I think we're finding a pretty good rhythm," Luongo said. "Heading into the third period we have that confidence that we're going to pull it out, whether we're tied, ahead or trailing. It's kind of a little bit of the same feeling we had towards the end of last year. It's just a matter of keeping it going here."
Florida is 2-0-1 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
