Brad Marchand celebrates 1k points with his teammates. Photo: Alie Skowronski
The Panthers returned home to start an extended homestead and started it off with a bang. Riding the momentum off the Vegas game, Florida’s offense exploded for a 6-3 win in front of another outstanding performance from Daniil Tarasov. There were plenty of goals to go around, with multiple three-point nights and milestones galore. Over the last handful of games, the Cats seem to have found their game and are looking like themselves despite the five players on IR.
Milestone Night:
There was no lack of benchmarks that were hit on Thursday night against Washington. The Caps took a 0-1 lead roughly halfway into the period on a goal from Duhaime. However, Evan Rodrigues answered back about 30 seconds later when he picked up a rebounding puck off a Mikkola shot and put it in the back of the net. Rodrigues was the first of four Panthers to hit a milestone as he netted his 100th career goal. A Forsling assist on the Schwindt goal put him at 200 career points. Jones, in the third period, put the Cats up 4-2 off a shot from the point that snuck in just under the crossbar. It wasn’t initially clear if he had scored off that shot, but Verhaeghe put in the rebound puck just in case. Video review showed it did go in for Jones, marking his 100th career goal. However, the one milestone everyone’s talking about is Brad Marchand joining the 1000-point club. He’s been on an absolute heater to start the season with the Panthers and put up two more assists on the Jones and Luostarinen goals for points 999 & 1000. The bench cleared to celebrate with him, and when the game was all over, Rodrigues shot not one but two rats at Marchand in their post-win tradition. When he talked to the media after the game, Brad said, “We all celebrate together. It feels pretty incredible to be part of a group that enjoys each other as much as we do and is as close as we are. It makes these moments that much more special.”
Goal Support:
The milestone players weren’t the only ones who got in on the offensive game. Cole Schwindt gave Florida the lead in the second period. Hard work by Luostarinen down below the goal line got the puck back to Forsling. Gus then took the shot from the point, which Schwindt tipped in for his second goal of the season. The Panthers never looked back from there. Reinhart extended the lead to two when he scored off a rebounding puck at the net front. A bit of chaos worked in his favor, and he put the puck past Logan Thompson with Verhaeghe and Jones on the assists. The Panthers took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission, and while the Capitals cut the deficit early into the third period with a goal from Sourdif, who the Panthers traded to Washington over the summer. It was Reinhart again to restore the two-goal lead. An incredible pass from Lundell below the goal line, found Reinhart in the slot all alone, and with a small bit of stick handling, he got Thompson out of position to score, putting the Cats up 4-2. Sandin cut the lead back down to two goals. Luostarinen put home the empty-netter goal with the pass from Marchand for the final 6-3 score. Lundell had a three-point night with two secondary assists, Luostarinen also had two secondary assists on the Schwindt & second Reinhart goal, Mikkola had a primary assist, and Verhaeghe had a primary assist.
Tara-Win:
After four great performances, the Panthers finally gave Tarasov the goal support to match his level of play. Daniil was huge in the first period when the Cats got outshot 7-17. Overall, the Panthers were outshot 28-40, but Tarasov made some huge stops to keep the game firmly in Florida’s control. He made 10 high-danger saves and had a .925 SV%, stopping 37 of 40 SOG. All the goals that found the back of the net for Washington were at even strength and helped the Panthers kill off both penalties. There was more than one sequence where Tarasov made multiple quick saves in succession. He also got support from the team in front of them as Florida blocked 19 shots and was pretty physical, laying 22 hits. When Daniil talked to the media postgame, he said, “Finally, we got it. I’m so happy and proud of these guys. We got huge milestones tonight. Just happy to be part of that.” Despite his other starts resulting in losses, Paul Maurice and his teammates have praised his performances and credited him with keeping the team in games and giving them a chance to win. All in all, a great first win for Tarasov on a night that featured so many milestones for the team.
Discover more from Inside The Rink
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.