SUNRISE, Fla. – Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist, Aleksander Barkov had three assists for the second time in less than a week and the Florida Panthers beat the Nashville Predators 6-2 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory.
Sam Reinhart got his 11th of the season and pushed his goals streak to five games for the Panthers, who got a goal and an assist from Matthew Tkachuk and two assists from Uvis Balinskis. Tomas Nosek also scored for Florida.
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Steven Stamkos and Juuso Parssinen scored for Nashville. It was the 83rd official time, including playoffs, that Stamkos played against the Panthers — the first with him wearing something other than a Tampa Bay sweater.
The Predators (4-9-1) have nine points, the fewest through 14 games in franchise history. They had 10 points through 14 games three previous times, most recently last season.
Takeaways
Predators: Including playoffs, Stamkos has 52 goals against the Panthers. That’s the most by any Florida opponent; Alex Ovechkin has 45 goals against Florida. In regular-season games only against Florida, Ovechkin leads Stamkos 44-42.
Panthers: This is Florida’s fourth regular-season winning streak of at least six games since the start of last season. Before that, the Panthers had 10 such streaks — in their first 29 seasons combined.
Key moment
Reinhart and Tkachuk scored 1:41 apart in the first period, staking Florida to a 2-0 lead just 5:14 into the contest.
Key stat
Florida (10-3-1) has 10 wins through 14 games for the fourth time in club history. It also happened in 1995-96 (10-4-0), 2020-21 (10-2-2) and 2021-22 (10-2-2).
Up next
Predators: Host Utah on Saturday night, before going back on the road for a five-game trip.
Panthers: Host Philadelphia on Saturday night, the second of five straight in Sunrise.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl