Kevin Stenlund’s redirected goal midway through the third period led the Florida Panthers to a 5-3 comeback win over the host San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, and Aleksander Barkov each had a goal and an assist, while Ryan Lomberg scored Florida’s other goal.
Matthew Tkachuk had two assists, giving the Panthers forward 10 points (two goals, eight assists) over a seven-game points streak.
The Panthers are on a five-game winning streak and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. That ten-game stretch has been bookended by wins over San Jose, as Florida also collected a 3-1 home win over the Sharks on Oct. 24.
In his third start of the season, Panthers backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 19 of 22 shots to earn his second win.
San Jose has lost three in a row amidst a disastrous 2-13-1 start to the season.
Luke Kunin, Tomas Hertl, and Mike Hoffman scored for Sharks, and Mikael Granlund had two assists.
A wild third period almost saw San Jose launch its own comeback. The Panthers took a 2-1 lead into the sixth minute of the third frame until San Jose capitalized on special teams. Hertl’s power-play goal and Kunin’s delayed-penalty tally came within a 70-second span of one another, putting the Sharks ahead in rapid fashion.
However, Florida responded with an even quicker flurry. Verhaeghe scored on the power play at 10:06 of the third period, equalizing the game on the forward’s 100th career NHL goal. Only 63 seconds later, Stenlund got a stick on an Uvis Balinskis point shot to deflect the puck past Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
The third period also saw three shots (two for Florida, one for San Jose) hit the goalpost, and the Panthers’ Sam Bennett had a possible goal overturned after a video review.
Reinhart has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during a five-game multi-point streak. Reinhart has the most goals (12) and points (23) of any Panthers player in franchise history through the club’s first 15 games of a season.
Blackwood stopped 27 of 31 shots.
Florida has won its last 10 games against the Sharks, dating back to the 2018-19 season.
–Field Level Media
