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Be-Deviled: Florida Panthers 4, New Jersey 2

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SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers had another comeback on Saturday night as they rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the visiting New Jersey Devils 4-2 as Sam Reinhart ended up with a pair of goals.

Florida gave up a pair of goals in the second period and things were, admittedly, looking bleak for the Panthers going into the third against a Devils team trying to keep pace with Carolina for the Metropolitan Division lead.

Yet Sasha Barkov got the Panthers going at 6:14 of the third — with Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk following suit.

After Barkov scored off of the back of Marc Staal, Reinhart deflected a Brandon Montour power play shot past rookie goalie Akira Schmid to tie things at 7:54.

Less than a minute later, Carter Verhaeghe fed Tkachuk with a pass as he drove the net — and he backhanded it past Schmid for Florida’s first lead of the night.

Reinhart then put one into the empty net in the waning seconds to wrap things up.

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“I liked our bounceback in the third,’’ Reinhart said. “We started moving our feet a little, started creating some chances and we capitalized. It was a back-and-forth night and they hung on. Then they took it to us and took some wind out of our sails. We got the power play goal and really pushed forward in the third.

“This is the most fun time to play. You could sense the atmosphere from the start. Fans know the position we are in. We’re enjoying the battle. It was nice to get that on home ice before we hit the road. It’ll be good for us.”

The Panthers now head out on the road for a quick back-to-back trip to Detroit and Philadelphia before retuning home to play host to the Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

With the assist on the empty net goal from Reinhart, Barkov tied Jonathan Huberdeau for the franchise record in points with 613 each. He can set the record Monday in Detroit.

GOALS OF THE GAME

  • Devils 1, Panthers 0 (2:16, 2nd): Nico Hischier picks off an errant puck in the neutral zone while killing a penalty, comes in uncontested and beats Sergei Bobrovsky to break the scoring ice.
  • Devils 2, Panthers 0 (7:43, 2nd): With Bobrovsky down on the ice along with a few of his Florida teammates after sweeping the puck out of danger, Jasper Boqvist fires it in.
  • Devils 2, Panthers 1 (6:14, 3rd): Brandon Montour’s shot from the point hit the back of Marc Staal — but dropped straight to the ice where Sasha Barkov was at and he swept it through.
  • Panthers 2, Devils 2 (7:54, 3rd): Montour threw up another shot from the point with Sam Reinhart sending it up-and-over Akira Schmid to tie things up.
  • Panthers 3, Devils 2 (8:44, 3rd): Matthew Tkachuk kept up his torrid scoring pace by taking a nice pass from Carter Verhaeghe and backhanding it through for Florida’s first lead of the night.
  • Panthers 4, Devils 2 (19:40, 3rd): Reinhart gets an empty net goal to cap off the Florida comeback.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida

2. Sasha Barkov, Florida

3. Sam Reinhart, Florida

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT DETROIT RED WINGS  

  • When: Monday, 7 p.m.
  • Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit 
  • Streaming/TV: Bally Sports Florida/ESPN+
  • Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
  • Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
  • Last season: Florida won 4-0
  • This season (Florida leads 2-0): Panthers 5, Detroit 1 (Dec. 8); Panthers 3, Red Wings 2 (Jan. 6)
  • All-time regular season series: Florida leads 35-19-6, 5 ties
  • Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

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