Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists Wednesday to help lift the visiting Florida Panthers to their third win in a row, 5-2 over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anton Lundell added two goals, Jonah Gadjovich and Aaron Ekblad also scored, and Evan Rodrigues had two assists for the Panthers, who have won seven of eight.
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.
Bryan Rust and John Ludvig (first NHL goal) scored for the Penguins, who have lost three straight. Jake Guentzel left in the third with an upper-body injury.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 18 saves.
In the first, Florida outshot Pittsburgh 4-3, the lowest combined total for both clubs in a period this season, according to TNT.
The Penguins thought they scored on a power play at 2:31 of the second, but Florida successfully challenged that Pittsburgh’s Lars Eller played the puck with a high stick just before Rickard Rakell put it in.
The Panthers broke things open with four goals over an 8:34 span in the second.
On a two-on-one, Rodrigues’ pass went between the skates of Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang and Tkachuk one-timed it behind Jarry at 4:28.
Gadjovich made it 2-0 on a tip-in under Jarry’s pads 34 seconds later, set up by Brandon Montour’s shot from the left point.
At 8:27, Ekblad used a drag move in the right circle to change his angle and score far side to increase it to 3-0.
Lundell shoveled the puck in from the lower part of the left circle off a setup by Tkachuk to make it 4-0 at 13:02.
At 15:24 of the second, Guentzel got the Penguins on the board with a knuckling shot from the high slot. That goal withstood a goalie interference challenge by the Panthers.
A fluky goal gave Florida a 5-1 lead at 5:35 of the third. Lundell’s shot was blocked, but the puck fluttered past Jarry.
Ludvig scored his first NHL goal at 6:07 of the third on a short-side shot from the right dot to cut it to 5-2.
–Field Level Media
