Home Schooled: Florida Panthers 5, Dallas Stars 4

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers almost saw a couple of former teammates spoil their night on Wednesday but the Dallas Stars homecoming was eventually foiled.

Yes, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov both scored in the third period to help Dallas tie the score, but a pair of quick goals from Sasha Barkov and Evan Rodrigues helped Florida halt its three-game home losing streak with a 5-4 win.

Rodrigues ended his excellent night with a pair of goals and two more assists.

The Panthers (15-8-2) also got goals from Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.

Florida had a two-goal lead twice — the first tied up thanks to goals from Marchment and Dadonov.

Rodrigues’ second of the night at 8 minutes made it 5-3 only Dallas pulled back within a goal.

Sergei Bobrovsky is now 17-2-2 against the Stars as he ended with 29 saves.

GOALS OF THE GAME

• Panthers 1, Stars 0 (4:39, 1st): Even though Florida was being outshot 6-0 to kick things off, Evan Rodrigues got loose on a nice pass from Niko Mikkola, looked off Sasha Barkov and struck one from the right circle and put it past Jake Oettinger.
• Stars 1, Panthers 1 (13:42, 1st): A Florida defensive miscue left Radek Faska alone in the slot and he hammered a Sam Steel feed and beat Sergei Bobrovsky.
• Panthers 2, Stars 1 (18:14, 1st): The Panthers failed to complete a tic-tac-toe play in the Dallas zone as Sasha Barkov’s shot went wide and bounded off the backboards — only the puck landed right on the stick of Sam Reinhart and he don’t miss very often.
• Panthers 3, Stars 1 (0:24, 2nd): The Panthers rolled into the offensive zone with numbers with Sam Bennett going Carter Verhaeghe’s way through some of the traffic.
• Panthers 3, Stars 2 (0:39, 3rd PP): Mason Marchment gets one off the stick of Matt Duchene in front of the net just as Dallas’ third power play starts.
• Stars 3, Panthers 3 (4:15, 3rd): Evgenii Dadonov gets in on the Florida homecoming party as he knocks in a puck off a shot/pass from Jani Hakanpaa to tie things up.
• Panthers 4, Stars 3 (4:52, 3rd): Barkov puts the Panthers back out in front as he tracks down a loose puck off the backboards that Oettinger lost track off and puts it top shelf.
• Panthers 5, Stars 3 (8:00, 3rd PP): Aggressive hockey looks good on Rodrigues as he dangled the puck in the slot before firing it past Oettinger for his second of the night.
• Panthers 5, Stars 4 (12:26, 3rd PP): The NHL credited the power play goal to Thomas Harley although it appeared his shot from the point was deflected by Wyatt Johnston on its way through. Johnston told teammates he did not feel the puck, so, Harley keeps it.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE NIGHT

1. Evan Rodrigues (2 goals, 2 assists), Florida

2. Sasha Barkov (goal, assist), Florida

3. Evgenii Dadonov (goal), Dallas

ON DECK

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Friday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series — At Florida: Friday. At Pittsburgh: Jan. 26; Feb. 14.
• Last Season: Penguins won 2-1
• All-time regular season series: Penguins lead 56-36-7, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Sunday at Columbus, 1 p.m.