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The Florida Panthers are experiencing no Stanley Cup hangover whatsoever; the team just keeps on winning in 2024-25. Captain Aleksander Barkov has been a huge part of that since returning from injury, and he led the way in a 6-2 shellacking of the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Barkov recorded three assists in the contests, in the process adding his name to an exclusive list:
“Barkov factored on three of six Panthers goals in a victory against the Predators. He became the first player in franchise history to record 100 multi-assist games and joined Teemu Selanne (167 GP), Jari Kurri (167 GP) and Saku Koivu (100 GP) as the fourth Finnish player in NHL history to reach that mark,” per NHL Public Relations.
The Finnish star has been unbelievable since returning from an injury; he recorded five points over two games in the NHL Global Series Finland, and he's up to 11 points in just six games in 2024-25. He was again a catalyst in Thursday's win over the reeling Predators at Amerant Bank Arena.
“We played with good energy, we started really well, and we played hard,’’ Barkov said afterwards, per NHL.com's George Richards. “We knew they were on the back-to-back so we knew they would be ready to play. We were more ready to play. We got off to a good start and carried it all the way to the end.’’
With that, the Panthers are winners of six in a row and nine of their last 11 to improve to a sparkling 10-3-1 — good enough for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Aleksander Barkov, Panthers just keep on winning
Besides Barkov's continued excellence, the Cats are getting contributions from all over the lineup. Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals and added an assist on Thursday, while Sam Reinhart scored in his fifth straight game and Matthew Tkachuk chipped in a goal and an assist.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves for his fourth consecutive triumph; Florida has now secured a point in 10 of its past 11 games.
“We looked right and we caught them on a back to back, and that doesn’t happen too much for us this year where we’re playing a tired team,” head coach Paul Maurice said, per Richards. “We needed to take advantage of that. It took some work and effort from our team. I liked the way we started; I liked the way we played.”
“Getting the lead was huge, carrying it over and extending it was huge for us. I thought we played a solid game,” echoed Verhaeghe. “It was a little low energy, but we battled and played well.”
With Barkov now back to full health, the Panthers are again looking like one of the teams to beat in the National Hockey League in 2024-25. After advancing to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, this is again shaping up to be an impossibly tough out in the postseason next spring.
Florida will look to keep the positive momentum flowing as a season-high seven-game homestand continues. The Panthers will play the Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils (x2) and Winnipeg Jets over the next week.
