Panthers start fast and finish strong, topping Golden Knights 4-2 in Cup rematch

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals 1:59 apart in the third period, and the Florida Panthers went into their Christmas break by topping the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Saturday in a rematch of last season's Stanley Cup Final.

Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, and Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour each finished with two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.

Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for Vegas, which topped Florida in five games last spring for the title. The Golden Knights matched a season-worst by losing their third straight and are just 10-9-4 following an 11-0-1 start to their title defense.

Jiri Patera stopped 38 shots for Vegas.

The Panthers came out flying, taking 15 of the game's first 16 shots. Add in those shot attempts that missed the net or were blocked in the first 15 minutes of play, and Florida had 29 of the game's first 30 tries to get a puck on goal.

And there were clearly memories of what happened last June, particularly the hit from Vegas' Keegan Kolesar that left Tkachuk with a fractured sternum. Kolesar fought Florida's Ryan Lomberg midway through the first period Saturday; the fight lasted exactly one punch, with Lomberg landing the first and only blow before Kolesar hit the ice.

But Patera stoned Florida time and again despite the flurry of pucks headed his way, and then Stone opened the scoring early in the second.

Bennett tied it for Florida and Forsling scored to put the Panthers on top, before Dorofeyev seemed to give Vegas a big shot of momentum by tying the game with 22.3 seconds left in the second period. He stayed locked in on a pass into the slot by Ben Hutton that hit the stick of Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, then slid the deflected puck into the open side of the net.

Verhaeghe's goal from the high slot just 17 seconds into a power play put Florida on top for good, and Reinhart provided the insurance tally about 2 minutes later — with Tkachuk helping by perfectly screening Patera on the play.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: Visit Anaheim on Wednesday.

Panthers: Visit Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl