Dawg Days: Florida Panthers 4, Arizona Coyotes 1

The Florida Panthers gave up yet another shorthanded goal on Tuesday night as the Arizona Coyotes tied things up in the third.

Then Sam Reinhart and Sasha Barkov teamed up once again and kickstarted the Florida offense as the Panthers ended up rolling to their fifth straight win, this one 4-1.

With the Panthers getting another power play chance, Barkov fired off a sharp-angled shot along the line with Reinhart in front of the net.

He deflected the shot for his 24th goal of the season.

That assist also gave Barkov the franchise record with his 416th.

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Just 42 seconds later, Matthew Tkachuk was credited with his first goal since Dec. 10 when he jabbed at a puck at the cage — with Arizona defenseman Michael Kesselring inadvertently putting it past goalie Karel Vejmelka.

Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring midway through the first, snapping a wrist shot past Vejmelka after a bouncing puck found its way onto his stick.

The game stayed 1-0 all the way up until the Panthers were on the power play in the third.

There, Lawson Crouse — Florida’s first-round pick in 2015 — broke up a pass and Alex Kerfoot charged in on Sergei Bobrovsky and beat him top shelf at 3:17.

Things got contentious late in the second when Nick Cousins took a hard hit from behind as Jason Zucker rammed into Cousins in response to a hit he put on Juuso Valimaki.

As Cousins struggled to get off the ice, Gus Forsling fought Zucker — with both players being sent off.

Although Cousins did not get penalized for his initial hit — Forsling and Zucker both got hit with a 10-minute misconducts among other penalties.

Florida was on the subsequent power play when Arizona got its shorthanded goal.

Forsling, meanwhile, iced things with an empty-net goal not long after finally escaping the penalty box late in the third.

• The Panthers have allowed seven shorties this season.
• Florida’s five-game winning streak matches its longest of the season (Nov. 6-14).
• Verhaeghe had a goal and assisted on the Reinhart goal giving him his third straight multi-point game and fourth in his past five.

GOALS OF THE GAME

• Panthers 1, Coyotes 0 (10:46, 1st): Carter Verhaeghe snags a loose puck in the slot, slides toward the right circle and rips off a nice wrist shot.
• Coyotes 1, Panthers 1 (3:17, 3rd SH): Former Florida draft pick Lawson Crouse breaks up a pass on the power play and feeds Alex Kerfoot who beats Sergei Bobrovsky up top.
• Panthers 2, Coyotes 1 (7:56, 3rd PP): Sasha Barkov fires off a sharp angle shot that Sam Reinhart is able to knock past Karel Vejmelka.
• Panthers 3, Coyotes 1 (8:38, 3rd): Matthew Tkachuk gets credit for a goal that Arizona defenseman Michael Kesselring knocked past his goalie.
• Panthers 4, Coyotes 1 (17:39, 3rd EN): Gus Forsling comes out of the penalty box, goes right on the ice and drills an empty net goal with a shot the length of the ice from the far corner.

GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Carter Verhaeghe, Florida

2. Sam Reinhart, Florida

3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida

ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

• When: Thursday, 10 p.m.
• Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
  
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM, WPOW 96.5 FM2, WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 4, Knights 2 (Dec. 23). At Vegas: Thursday.
• Last Regular Season: Even 1-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Golden Knights lead 6-4-1
• Postseason History — 2023 Stanley Cup Final: Vegas d. Florida 4-1
• Up Next for the Florida Panthers: Saturday at Colorado, 4 p.m.