In their first meeting since the Stanley Cup Final in the last playoffs, the Florida Panthers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the winning goal for the local favorite with his 16th goal of the season in a power play at the start of the third period. The former Tampa Bay Lightning took advantage of a pass from Brandon Montour before beating Jiri Patera on the glove side.
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Sam Reinhart added another shift nearly two minutes later, giving his team a two-goal lead. However, the game started poorly for Paul Maurice's men. They were the ones who conceded the first goal of the game when Mark Stone scored the opening goal.
The Panthers then broke through twice with goals from Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett, but Pavel Dorofeyev brought the two teams back to the locker room with a 2-2 draw after 40 minutes.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves on 25 shots, while Patera gave up four of his opponents' 42 attempts.
The “Cats” will face the Lightning on December 27th in Tampa Bay. The Golden Knights will travel to Anaheim the same day as they cross swords with the Ducks.