Sam Reinhart's 7th career NHL hat trick made the difference for the Florida Panthers in their 8-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night in Denver.
The Panthers got things going early, scoring 3 unanswered goals to start the 1st period, first from Carter Verhaeghe (21) at just 1:10 in and then Reinhart's 1st of the night and 26th of the season at 3:02 for a 2-0 Florida lead less than 5 minutes total in. They'd add 1 more, courtesy of Reinhart's 2nd of the game at 7:41 for his 27th, making him nearly complete a natural hat trick in the 1st period, but in the 2nd period with Florida's 3-0 lead, Colorado spawned a 3-goal burst of their own, and they needed even less time to kick it off, with Cale Makar (9) getting the Avs on the board just 21 seconds in. Roughly 30 seconds later, Colorado made it a 1-goal game with Josh Manson (5) at 52 seconds, and then Valeri Nichushkin (20) got a Colorado PPG at 4:35 to make a 3-0 deficit a 3-3 tie in an equal amount of time as each other.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (8) did put Florida back in front 4-3 at the 8:50 mark, however, showing that the Cats weren't fazed by Colorado's impressive 2nd-period comeback. And while Colorado tied it again to begin the 3rd period, courtesy of Jonathan Drouin (9) at 3:31, that'd be the last Colorado goal, as the Cats added another multigoal flurry, this one of 4, to easily ice this battle of Eastern and Western powerhouses. Tallies came from Reinhart's hat goal on a Panthers power play at 5:59, followed by Kevin Stenlund (7) exactly 3 minutes later. At 16:17, Matthew Tkachuk (8) made it 7-4 Panthers, and then Verhaeghe's 2nd of the night was the final nail in Colorado's coffin.
Florida improves to 25-12-2, 2nd in the Atlantic Division despite a now 7-game winning streak. With a hot streak like that in mind, it's no wonder they're 8-2-0 in their last 10 games. The Cats travel to St. Louis for their next contest against the Blues on January 9 at 8 pm. Colorado drops to 25-12-3, also 2nd in the Central Division, with a 7-2-1 last 10 record. They stay at home to clash with Boston tomorrow night at 8 pm.
Team Stats:
Shots: FLA 29, COL 26
Hits: FLA 11, COL 16
Faceoff Wins: FLA 28, COL 28
PIM: FLA 10, COL 12
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