Reinhart stars to top Penguins in shootout for Panthers’ franchise-record seventh straight road win

By DAN SCIFO (Associated Press)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart scored in the shootout to help the Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Friday night.

Jake Guentzel followed Barkov with a goal in the shootout for Pittsburgh, but Reinhart won it when he slipped a hard wrist shot behind Alex Nedeljkovic.

Evgeni Malkin forced overtime with his 16th goal of the season that came with 41.5 seconds left in regulation.

Reinhart continued his career-best 12-game points streak with his 36th goal of the season, good for second in the league behind Toronto’s Auston Matthews. He has 18 goals and 22 points in his last 16 games overall.

Reinhart has a league-best 19 power-play goals, which matches a franchise record for most in one season, shared by Scott Mellanby and Pavel Bure. Reinhart has goals in eight straight road games, also a franchise record.

Former Penguin Evan Rodrigues also scored for Florida on the power play, his eighth goal of the season.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves for the Panthers, who won their third straight game. Florida has won eight of its last 12 overall.

Guentzel scored his 21st goal of the season in regulation, a power-play goal, but Pittsburgh finished 1 for 8 with the man advantage.

Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots for the Penguins, who lost their third straight overall. Pittsburgh has lost five of six and seven of its last 10 games overall.

Both teams scored a power-play goal in the first five minutes.

Guentzel stuffed a puck across the line just inside the right post at 1:51, breaking a five-game, 0-for-19 power-play slump. Erik Karlsson continued a 10-game point streak with a secondary assist, the longest active run by a defenseman.

Rodrigues tied it at 4:52 of the first period when he converted a rebound from the top of the crease.

Reinhart scored his power-play goal at 11:49 of the second period, following a double-minor to Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. Letang tripped Rodrigues and later made contact with Barkov in the same sequence. Barkov, who fell awkwardly and hit his head on the boards, remained down, but eventually left under his own power and returned later in the period.

The Panthers took four penalties in the final 7:05 of the second period, including a double-minor to Sam Bennett and another roughing call on Anton Lundell, both targeting Letang, but Pittsburgh was unable to capitalize.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Visit the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Penguins: Host Montreal on Saturday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL