Takeaways as Panthers beat Golden Knights in first matchup since Stanley Cup Finals

The Florida Panthers knew the importance of this game. They had lost four of their past five. It was their final game before the NHL’s holiday break.

Oh... and it was their first game against the Vegas Golden Knights since they knocked out the Panthers in last season’s Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s the team that ruined our summer,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said Friday. “It’ll be very hard for guys not to get up — I think almost impossible. We’re all going to be as fast and as physical as we can. There’s some bad blood there, so we’re excited.”

Added captain Aleksander Barkov: “It’s been a while, but we remember how it ended up. We’re going to be ready. We’re not happy with the way we played the last few games, but we’re going to get back to our game and going to be ready.”

The Panthers certainly looked ready on Saturday — even if it took a while for them to actually find the back of the net.

After a slew of early chances came up empty and in a game that featured a lot of physicality and chippiness between both teams, the Panthers finally finished on their opportunities in a 4-2 win over Vegas at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida improves to 19-12-2. Vegas falls to 21-9-5.

The Panthers took the lead for good when Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored power play goals less than two minutes apart in the third period.

Verhaeghe’s go-ahead goal came on a wrist shot from the high slot 6:10 into the final period. It was his 16th goal of the season.

Reinhart then doubled Florida’s lead 1:59 later with a snap shot from the right circle for his team-leading 19th goal and ninth power-play goal.

Saturday was just the fourth time this season that Florida scored multiple power-play goals in a game. The others were Nov. 27 at the Ottawa Senators, Nov. 14 at the San Jose Sharks and Nov. 12 at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Florida’s third-period scoring flurry came after a scoreless first period despite Florida having a 20-3 edge in shots on goal and then a frantic second period during which both teams scored twice.

Vegas took a 1-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the middle frame when Mark Stone took a pass in the slot and fired a wrist shot that got past Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 23 of 25 shots he faced.

The Panthers followed with a pair of goals from Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling. Bennett tied the game at 1-1 with a snap shot from the right circle with 11:02 left in the period. Forsling’s temporary go-ahead goal came on a slap shot from just beyond the left circle after an Aleksander Barkov faceoff win in the offensive zone with 4:44 left in the frame.

Vegas tied the game with 23 seconds left in the frame on a Pavel Dorofeyev wrist shot following a pass from Ben Hutton across the goalie crease.

In addition to the goal scorers, Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Montour all had two assists. Verhaeghe added an assist in addition to his go-ahead goal.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Carter Verhaeghe’s latest milestone

Verhaeghe’s power play goal was his 100th goal since joining the Panthers ahead of the 2020-21 season.

He is just the 12th player to log 100 regular-season goals with the Panthers.

The other 11: Barkov (254), Jonathan Huberdeau (198), Olli Jokinen (188), Scot Mellanby (157), Pavel Bure (152), Stephen Weiss (145), Nathan Horton (142), Radek Dvorak (113), Aaron Ekblad (111), Vincent Trocheck (111), Viktor Kozlov (101) and Rob Niedermayer (101).

Anton Lundell returns

The Panthers’ forward lines were at full strength on Saturday with Anton Lundell returning after missing the past four games with an illness.

Lundell returned to his usual spot as Florida’s third-line center with Eetu Luostarinen and Nick Cousins on the wings.

Kevin Stenlund, who filled on for Lundell on the third line, moved back down to the fourth line to center Ryan Lomberg and William Lockwood. Steven Lorentz was a healthy scratch.

Time for a break

The Panthers — and the rest of the NHL —are now off until Wednesday.

When they return to the ice, the Panthers will take the short trip up the state to play the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

After that, the Panthers play their final two games of 2023 at home when they host the New York Rangers on Friday and Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.