*Photo from the Miami Herald*
It was the cats who came out on top in this one. Sam Reinhart had a goal and two assists, Evan Rodrigues had two goals and two assists, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Dallas Stars with a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night in Sunrise.
Both teams dueled on the scoreboard, combining for 9 goals as the Panthers ultimately came out on top, winning their 5th of 10 games. In addition to Reinhart and Rodrigues' multi point games, Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist while Niko Mikkola had two assists.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of the win that "We needed it. We have been doing the right things for a while. That was Evan Rodrigues’ best performance and we can talk about the four points, but I just liked all the other things he did."
Rodrigues started the scoring in the game, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead 4:39 into the game, scoring his 5th goal of the season. At the 13:42 mark of the first, Radek Faksa scored for the Stars, tying the game 1-1 on his second goal of the season. Reinhart scored near the end of the period to make it 2-1 Panthers after one period.
Just 24 seconds into the second period, Carter Verhaeghe scored the only goal of the period, making it 3-1 Panthers. On the power play 39 seconds into the 3rd period, Mason Marchment scored for the Stars, making it 3-2 on his 8th goal of the season. Evgenii Dadonov scored his 5th goal of the season to tie the game 3-3.
Barkov scored at the 4:52 mark of the 3rd, putting the Panthers ahead 4-3 with Reinhart and Rodrigues assisting. With the Panthers on the power play, Rodrigues scored his second goal of the game to make it a 5-3 lead. Thomas Harley scored a power play goal of his own for the Stars, making it a 5-4 game.
Rodrigues said after the game that "Our message in pregame was we knew this would feel like a playoff game, because that is a great team over there. We wanted to treat it like the playoffs, limit momentum swings, and we did a great job with that."
Getting the start for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, who picked up the win to improve to 12-6-1 in 19 starts. Bobrovsky stopped 29 of the 33 shots the Stars sent his way, which was good for a .879 save percentage.
It was Jake Oettinger between the pipes for the Stars, taking the loss as his record now sits at 10-6-2 through 18 starts. Oettinger turned aside 26 out of the 31 shots on goal the Panthers tested him with, recording a .839 save percentage.
Dallas head coach Pete Deboer said of the loss that "You had two good teams going at it. I thought momentum shifted a number of different times. We got off to a great start, they found a way to get the first goal and took it for a little while. Then we pushed back. It’s tough. You can’t give up five goals on the road. That is a big ask to score that much."
The Stars finish a back to back by taking on the Washington Capitals on Thursday, with Scott Wedgewood set to start. The Panthers host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night, with Bobrovsky the likely starter.
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