The Florida Panthers will look to secure back-to-back victories when they play the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Florida lost a 3-0 lead in Philadelphia on Thursday but managed to recover and win 7-5 against the Flyers. Sam Reinhart scored a goal and added two assists, while Matthew Tkachuk contributed a goal and four assists for the Panthers, who have now won four of their last five games (4-0-1).
Aleksander Barkov, Evan Rodrigues, and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist in the victory.
Gustav Forsling and Niko Mikkola also scored for Florida, which went 4-for-5 on the power play.
“It’s not a recipe for success down the road,” Tkachuk said. “But I guess we found a way to get this one. It was crazy. Special teams were good for us to get us a few goals. And I guess we needed them tonight.”
Reinhart is tied for the league lead with 19 goals entering Friday and has a team-high 37 points in 27 games this season.
On Friday, the Panthers recalled forward Mackie Samoskevich from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers and sent goaltender Chris Driedger to the AHL team. These moves suggest that goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has returned to the team after missing the last two games for the birth of his child.
Bobrovsky has a record of 11-5-1, with a .890 save percentage and a 3.04 goals-against average in 17 starts this season. In 20 career games against the Sharks, he is 13-5-2 with a .933 save percentage and a 2.29 GAA.
Saturday will be the first of two meetings this season between the Sharks and Panthers. Florida won both games last season, 3-1 at home on Oct. 24 and 5-3 in San Jose on Nov. 14.
San Jose is on a six-game road trip and is looking to avoid a second consecutive loss. The Sharks were crushed 8-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, ending their three-game winning streak.
Alexander Wennberg scored the only goal for San Jose, and Vitek Vanecek allowed five goals on Tampa’s first 12 shots before being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood.
“We weren’t ready from the start,” said San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky. “Didn’t skate, didn’t compete … didn’t do anything well. Disappointing. I thought we had a good morning skate, good energy, good meetings.
“… I thought our guys were excited for the challenge tonight, but we got a reality check of when you don’t skate, and you don’t compete against really good hockey or any team in the National Hockey League, this is what’s going to happen.”
Rookie forward Macklin Celebrini, the 2024 first overall pick, saw his five-game point streak come to an end in the loss.
Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund are tied for the team lead with 10 goals each. Granlund also has a team-high 29 points in 27 games this season.
Blackwood is 6-8-3 with a .907 save percentage and a 3.00 GAA in 18 games this season. He has a 3-3-0 record in six career games against the Panthers, with a .913 save percentage and a 3.34 GAA.
The Sharks and Panthers will play their final game of the season series on Jan. 25 in San Jose.
