Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves in his Panthers debut, leading Florida to a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at Sunrise, Fla.
The Panthers got goals from Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Kevin Stenlund. It was Reinhart’s team-high seventh goal of the season.
The Sharks, who have lost all six of their games this season (0-5-1), got a goal from Fabian Zetterlund and 32 saves from Mackenzie Blackwood. San Jose is the last NHL team without a win.
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, who scored a total of 62 goals over the past two seasons, was a late scratch due to illness.
San Jose forwards Anthony Duclair and Mike Hoffman — both former Panthers players — were held without a point. Hoffman, though, hit the left post in the third period. Later in the third, Stolarz stole a would-be goal from Duclair.
San Jose opened the scoring on a power-play goal with 8:30 gone in the second period. After Florida’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent off for holding Tomas Hertl, the Sharks cashed in on Zetterlund’s wrist shot into an empty left side of the net. William Eklund earned the primary assist for his centering pass from behind the goal.
The Panthers tied the score 78 seconds later as Verhaeghe’s shot from in close went off the stick of Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs. Blackwood then blocked it with his right pad, but the puck bounced in off Burroughs’ left leg.
Florida took a 2-1 lead with 15:23 expired in the second on a four-on-three power play. Matthew Tkachuk’s shot from the point was stopped by Blackwood’s left pad, but Reinhart scored on a rebound while falling to the ice.
There was drama late in the game.
With 4:10 left in the third, Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen was called for hooking against Jacob Peterson. With 3:14 left, San Jose pulled its goalie, giving the Sharks a six-on-four advantage.
However, the Panthers killed the penalty, and Stenlund scored an empty-netter with two seconds left to seal the win.
–Field Level Media
