TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett each had two goals and two assists as the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers won their franchise-record 11th consecutive road game by routing the Tampa Bay Lightning 9-2 on Saturday night.
The Panthers hold a one-point lead over the Boston Bruins in the division. Tampa Bay trails the Panthers by 11 points. Florida’s nine goals was the team’s most in a road game.
“They’re pretty rare in this league when you score so many goals,” Florida center Aleksander Barkov said. “Everyone is having fun out there and playing the right way and playing hard no matter what the score was.”
Florida scoring record is 10 goals, in a 10-5 home win over Boston on Nov. 26, 1997.
The 11-game run is one shy of the NHL record held by the 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings and 2014-15 Minnesota Wild. Florida has outscored its opponents 51-18 during the stretch.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves and set a team record with his eighth straight road victory. Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist and Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists. Kevin Stenlund and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida.
“Probably our biggest rivalry in the league is Tampa,” said Bennett, who ended a six-game pointless streak. ”So anytime we can come into their building and put a game on like that, it definitely feels good.”
Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who had an eight-game home winning streak halted. Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed six goals on 22 shots before replaced by Jonas Johansson (six saves) to start the third.
“I’ve been on both sides of these types of night, and it’s tough when you’re on this side,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “But the response, we’ll see where we are.”
NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov extended his point streak to 10 games with an assist on a power-play goal in the third period, but finished minus-4
The Panthers went up 6-1 on a pair of power-play goals by Tkachuk during the opening 1:37 of the second period. He established a mark for the fastest two goals to start a period by player in Panthers’ history.
Tkachuk has 12 goals and 25 points in the Panthers’ 11 consecutive road wins.
After Hagel opened the scoring 24 seconds into the game, the Panthers responded with four straight first-period goals by Montour, Bennett, Stenlund and Forsling.
“Twenty-four seconds it was a (heck) of a game for the home fans,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “For 59 minutes and 36 seconds, one team was better than the other.”
Verhaeghe had two of Florida’s third-period goals.
Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad missed the game with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night.
Lightning: Play Monday night at home against Ottawa.
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