SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov hit two career milestones with one slick motion late in the first period on Thursday.
He also helped jumpstart the Florida Panthers’ offense.
Barkov’s short-handed goal in the final minute of the opening period — a slap shot from the right circle on a feed from rookie Anton Lundell — was the 200th goal and 500th point of his NHL career. The Panthers would take the lead shortly after and hold on for a 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at FLA Live Arena to start a short two-game homestand.
Florida is now 30-9-5, becoming just the second team to reach 30 wins on the season. Their 65 points lead the NHL. Vegas fell to 25-16-3.
Sam Bennett scored the go-ahead goal less than two minutes into the second period when he carried the puck the length of the ice, shook off a pair of Golden Knights skaters and fired a wrist shot from the left circle past Vegas goaltender Robin Lehner.
Mason Marchment and Bennett added a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute to seal the win.
Bennett now has a career-high 20 goals this season.
But back to Barkov.
His double milestone-setting goal came on the first of three Panthers penalty kills after Carter Verhaeghe was called for holding.
Barkov forced a takeaway in the neutral zone, flicked the puck to Lundell on the boards before receiving the puck back on a cross-ice feed and sending a slap shot past Lehner. It was Barkov’s fourth short-handed goal of the season, tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Gustav Nyquist for the most in the NHL this season.
He’s the first player in Panthers history to score 200 goals with the franchise and just the second player in franchise history to score at least 500 points. Teammate and All-Star Jonathan Huberdeau, who is up to 556 career points (184 goals, 372 assists) was the first to hit the 500-point mark, doing so earlier this season in a 5-1 win over the New York Islanders on Oct. 16.
Goaltender Spencer Knight made 24 saves, including stopping the final 20 shots that came his way on Thursday. The lone goal he gave up was a snap shot from Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud 7:51 into the game.
It’s the second consecutive game in which Knight has given up just one goal, following up his 27-save effort in Florida’s shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 21.
