RECAP: Panthers 4, Golden Knights 1

LAS VEGAS – The Florida Panthers saw their winning streak reach a season-long six games with a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

In the win, Florida went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and 3-for-6 on the power play.

“The power play did a really good job tonight, but it’s hard to not talk about how great the PK and Bob were,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “That 5-on-3, two of them, that was the difference in the game. Our PK has been unreal the whole year.”

At 24-12-2, the Panthers now sit just two points out of first place in the Atlantic Division.

Getting a little payback from last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers swept their two-game season series with the Knights, winning both games within less than two weeks.

“We’re a different team each year,” Cats head coach Paul Maurice said. “I think last year was a phenomenal year, but this team is different. They’re finding their own identity.”

Taking advantage of some bad luck for the Panthers, the Knights opened the scoring when Pavel Dorofeyev followed up on a shot from Mark Stone, pounced on the rebound and fired the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 3:59 of the first period.

On the goal, the Panthers were essentially playing with just four skaters as Evan Rodrigues had to crawl to the bench in pain after blocking a shot near the blue line.

Keeping the deficit to just one goal for the Panthers with a big save soon after, Bobrovsky sprawled out to deny Jonathan Marchessault on a dangerous shot from the doorstep.

“He’s a great player,” Bobrovsky said of Marchessault. “They’ve got really smart offensive guys. You have to be smart, you have to be focused. If you give them a little bit, they can take advantage.”

Earning his fifth straight win, Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves.

On the power play, the Panthers pulled even when Oliver Ekman-Larsson fired a point shot off the end boards that ended up right on the stick of Sam Bennett, who then sent a shot from the right circle past a diving Logan Thompson to make it 1-1 at 14:15.

Near the end of the period, the Panthers lost captain Aleksander Barkov after he took an elbow to the head from Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez while chasing down a puck behind the net.

Barkov (upper body) did not return to the game.

Despite briefly returning, Rodrigues (lower body) was also done after the first period.

Maurice said that updates on both players will come on Friday.

Facing even more adversity, the Panthers took three penalties within the first three minutes of the second period. But with the penalty kill continuing to shine, they kept the Knights off the board, including killing off two extended 5-on-3 advantages.

Since Dec. 8, Florida leads the NHL with a 94.1% rate of success on the penalty kill.

“Just stay together,” said Kevin Stenlund, who led all Panthers forwards with 4:52 of shorthanded ice time. “Win the battles, block shots, stuff like that.”

Feeding off those big kills, the Panthers then made the Knights pay when they finally earned a power play of their own after Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud elbowed Sam Bennett. Unlike the elbow that took Barkov out, this one was actually called.

Taking matters into his own hands, Bennett also took Whitecloud down to the ice in a fight.

On the ensuing man advantage, Tkachuk lit the lamp for the second straight game when he deftly tipped in a shot from Brandon Montour to put Florida up 2-1 at 6:15.

Keeping their foot on the gas, the Panthers padded their newfound lead when Carter Verhaeghe buried a rebound after a shot from Gustav Forsling to make it 3-1 at 18:38.

His 20^th goal of the season, Verhaeghe has scored in five of the last six games.

“He’s playing great right now,” Tkachuk said of his lights-out linemate. “He’s got a nose for the net. I really enjoy playing with him. I think what’s underrated is his passing ability, too. I love playing on the opposite wing of him. We find each other a lot.”

With the power play oozing confidence, the Panthers struck for a third time with the extra attacker when Sam Reinhart finished off a tic-tac-toe play by ripping a shot past Thompson from the slot to up the lead to 4-1 at 5:23 of the third period.

Named to the NHL All-Star Game for the first time in his career prior to puck drop, Reinhart leads the Panthers with 25 goals, including a league-high 12 on the power play.

“So, so well deserved,” Tkachuk said of Reinhart’s honor. “Him and Barky have been our two horses all year. We would not be in the position we are without them. I’m very happy for Sam. He’s going to have so much fun up there, especially with it being his first one. I’m shocked it’s his first one, to be honest. Hopefully he has a great time.”

Coming together in the face of adversity, it’s hard not to be impressed by tonight’s win.

As always, these Cats came to play.

“It was one of my favorite wins of the year,” Maurice said. “You come out and we’re behind it. First, we’ve got to right he ship. The power-play goal was really important. Then you lose two really important pieces to your lneup, two-thirds of your top line, and then you get some huge kills."

THEY SAID IT

“[Kevin Stenlund] was awesome. Even on the weak-side, huge faceoffs wins. I played him with just about everybody and he was strong down low. He made good plays. We can talk about every guy. It was just to be a part of game where players have their own things going on.” – Paul Maurice

“I think maybe we need a little adversity to really dig down and find a way. We had 20-plus guys that were dialed in from the start of the game and wanted to get the job done.” – Matthew Tkachuk

“It was a good win, a good team effort. We played tight. We had some adversity. Defense, penalty kill, was on. The power play was great as well. We beat a good team. It’s a really tough building to get the win in here. We’re really happy.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

CATS STATS

- Carter Verhaeghe recorded his 100^th NHL assist.

- Sam Reinhart has scored six goals in his last five games.

- The Panthers allowed just two scoring chances at 5-on-5 in the second period.

- Will Lockwood and Niko Mikkola each had four hits.

- Dmitry Kulikov and Gustav Forsling each blocked four shots.

- Sam Bennett went 11-for-19 (57.9%) in the faceoff circle.

- Brandon Montour record his third multi-point game of the season.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made five high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Let’s see how long this streak can go, shall we?

Going for their seventh straight win, the Panthers will continue their road trip with a tough test against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

The official watch party in South Florida will be at Funky Buddha Taproom.

For more information, visit FloridaPanthers.com/CatsOnTap.