Sasha Barkov and His Ongoing Rivalry with the Empty Net

FORT LAUDERDALE — Sasha Barkov passed up a chance to score into an empty net on Thursday night.

Again.

In the final seconds of Florida’s eventual 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk came down on a 2-on-1 with the net empty.

Tkachuk was looking toward Barkov — only he took his right hand off his stick and waved it toward the net.

“Shoot it,’’ he shouted. Probably.

Barkov, it should be noted, has eight goals this season, all of which came with a goalie in the net.

He has no empty-net goals this season.

If the trend holds, this would be the seventh of his 12 seasons where Barkov does not score an empty-net goal.

So, Sasha, you got something against scoring into the empty net?

“No, no, no,’’ Barkov told FHN with a laugh Saturday morning. “If I get a chance to score, I will try and score.