Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks (14-32-6), who have lost six straight and nine of ten. Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots before being pulled early in the second period for Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped 14 of 17 shots in relief.
"We just stopped getting into people. Stopped skating in some areas without the puck, and then they end up in the back of our net," San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said.
Nate Schmidt gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 5:47 of the first period after Marc-Edouard Vlasic turned the puck over on a pass to the middle. Schmidt's slap shot beat Georgiev blocker side.
Ceci tied it 1-1 at 6:50 with a deflection in the slot after Jake Walman skated in from the blue line and shot the puck through traffic.
Smith gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 32 seconds later at 7:22. Mario Ferraro's wrist shot missed wide but rebounded to the left of Bobrovsky for Smith to put into an open net.
The Panthers then scored six consecutive goals.
"I think they felt our push in the first, and we immediately found out what a Cup-contending team looks like," Walman said. "Their pushback was much better than ours."
Sam Bennett tied it 2-2 at 14:27 after scoring on a net-front scramble, and Ekblad put Florida back in front 3-2 at 17:08 with a one-timer over Georgiev's glove. Tkachuk fed the puck to Ekblad at the right point after winning a battle along the boards.
"Anytime he's out there when he shoots, get to the net because it's going to get by and you're going to have a chance," Tkachuk said. "It's good, really good, having him back."
