All-Stars Shine: Florida Panthers 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 2 (SO)

PITTSBURGH — The Florida Panthers were not going to let the Pittsburgh Penguins step all over them, no matter how many penalties they took.

Catalyzed by a scary hit away from the play from Kris Letang which sent Sasha Barkov sliding into the boards, the Panthers got physical with the Penguins, a little too physical at times, and took eight penalties.

Barkov returned to the game after that hit and their penalty killers escaped unscathed on all but one of those kills.

The Panthers skated away with a 3-2 shootout victory behind Sergei Bobrovsky and Sam Reinhart.

The Panthers were in the driver’s seat until Evgeni Malkin tied the game with 41.5 seconds to go.

The Panthers got their win so on the back of their All-Stars.

Sam Reinhart scored the game’s go-ahead goal 11:49 into the second period for his 36th goal of the year — 19th on the power play.

It extended his point streak to 12 games.

He tied Florida’s franchise record for power play goals in a season, shared by Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure, and slid himself into a tie for eighth in franchise history in goals in a season with Mike Hoffman and Olli Jokinen.

Sergei Bobrovsky came up with save after save on the penalty kill, including 11 in the second period alone.

They certainly earned their trips to Toronto next week.

GOALS OF THE GAME

• Penguins 1, Panthers 0 (1:51, 1st PPG): Jake Guentzel banked in a Bryan Rust rebound while Dmitry Kulikov left his assignment to get a new stick from the bench.
• Panthers 1, Penguins 1 (4:52, 1st PPG): Evan Rodrigues took an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot to the face and stuffed it past Alex Nedelkjovic to tie the game.
• Panthers 2, Penguins 1 (11:49, 2nd PPG): Sam Reinhart scored his league-leading 19th power play goal of the year with a slick wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle.
• Penguins 2, Panthers 2 (19:19, 3rd) Evgeni Malkin buried a feed from Sidney Crosby from up close with the extra attacker on the ice.
• Shootout: Sasha Barkov and Reinhart each scored as the Panthers get their third straight win.

FHN 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Sam Reinhart, Florida

2. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida

3. Evan Rodrigues, Florida

ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS

• When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: UBS Arena, Elmont, N.Y.
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Last Season: Florida won 2-1
• This Season — At Florida: Islanders 4, Panthers 3 (Dec. 2.); March 28. At Islanders: Saturday
• All-time Regular Season Series: Panthers lead 56-34-11, 8 ties
• Next Up for the Panthers: Feb. 6 vs. Philadelphia, 7 p.m.