LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brad Marchand, playing some of his best hockey at age 37, extended his goal streak to five games to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 victory Monday night over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Marchand has scored six goals in five games, inching closer to his personal-best seven-game goal streak in 2016. He also had an assist and now stands at 998 points for his career.
Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart scored the other Panthers goals, and Donovan Sebrango had two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves.
Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev scored the Golden Knights goals. Barbashev has four goals and two assists in four games.
Rookie Carl Lindbom, making just his fourth start, stopped 17 shots. He hasn’t been eased into the lineup, having also faced Tampa Bay twice and Colorado once, a major reason Lindbom is 0-3-1 with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .869 save percentage.
But the Golden Knights’ offense failed to back up Lindbom despite having more than its share of opportunities. Vegas had eight high-danger chances compared to five for Florida, according to Natural Stat Trick. Mitch Marner faked out Bobrovsky in one of those chances in the first period, but skied the puck.
The Golden Knights have felt like anything but at home during this six-game stretch at T-Mobile Arena. They dropped to 1-3-1 on the homestand.
The Panthers head back to South Florida having gone 2-2 on their western road trip.
This was a meeting of the most recent Stanley Cup champions. The Golden Knights beat Florida in 2023, and Panthers then went back-to-back for their titles.
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Panthers: Host Washington on Thursday.
Golden Knights: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday.