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December 9, 2024
Barkov

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.

“I do not think about it that way. Do I not like empty-net goals? No, that is not true.’’

Barkov has, believe it or not, scored a few empty-net goals over the years.

Nine of his 274 NHL goals have been empty-netters.

His first did not come until his fifth season: Barkov scored three empty-netters during the 2017-18 season.

Barkov also had two in the 2021-22 season, and two more last year. He had one each in 2018-19, and 2021.

Again, nine in 12 seasons.

Barkov
Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov, right, waves toward the empty net before Matthew Tkachuk puts the puck in for the final goal in a 7-5 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. // Screenshot NBCSN Philadelphia

For comparison, Tkachuk has seven in three seasons in South Florida — including the one Thursday night which was his first this year.

Sam Reinhart has 22 in his NHL career, and 13 of those have come in four seasons with the Panthers.

Of Carter Verhaeghe’s nine empty-net goals, well, all of them have come in five seasons in Florida.

In the case of Thursday’s ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ moment, Barkov said he deferred to Tkachuk because, like him, he knows Tkachuk likes to spread the wealth in such situations.

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With Travis Konecky in the vicinity, Barkov did not want a potential Tkachuk delivery to get picked off.

Simple as that.

Maybe.

“It was the end of the game, and there was a guy between us,” Barkov said. “I know Matthew is the type of guy who would try to pass it. I just wanted to make sure he did not pass it, that’s why I pointed at the net.

“I did think he was going to shoot it anyway.”

Barkov said he was not thinking about how Tkachuk scoring would cap off a terrific five-point night.

“That was not something I was thinking about,’’ Barkov said. “Definitely very aware of how great he has been playing lately, and he had a great game. He got a chance to finish it off into the empty net, and that was nice.”

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