Marchand extends goal streak to 5, Panthers edge Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Brad Marchand extended his goal streak to five games and also had an assist for the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.

It is Marchand's longest goal streak since 2015-16, when he had runs of seven games (from Feb. 2-14) and five games (Jan. 16-25). Marchand also extended his point streak to eight games (eight goals, four assists).

“He’s special and tight. His hands are so quick,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “It would be the thing about Brad that you know. He’s a good player when you coached against him for years, but you get on the ice in practice and see those goals, it’s just exceptional.”

Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for the Panthers (8-7-1), who concluded their four-game road trip 2-2-0. Donovan Sebrango had two assists for his first NHL points.

“We played our game,” said Sebrango, who was playing in his ninth NHL game. “It’s always fun to get a couple of points, and your first one you always remember.”

Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev scored, and Carl Lindbom made 17 saves for the Golden Knights (7-4-4), who have lost three in a row (0-2-1).

“We're a very resilient team. We'll answer the bell,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We need to have a little pushback so we don't get behind by two. We get behind by one then start falling behind by two. We've had good comebacks over the years, but at the end of the day, you start playing good teams, then you're going to pay the price.”

Boqvist gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 14:47 of the first period. While skating up toward the blue line, he turned and scored with a one-timer that beat the blocker of Lindbom, who wasn't fully set in his crease.

“The first goal in every game is huge,” Boqvist said. “It was nice to get that one, for sure. It was a little bit too much back and forth in the first 10, 12 minutes.”

Marchand extended it to 2-0 at 10:54 of the second period. Gustav Forsling cleared the puck off the boards into the neutral zone, where Marchand picked it up. He then skated down the left wing and deked around Kaedan Korczak before lifting in a backhand in the slot.

Hertl cut it to 2-1 at 1:25 of the third period, knocking in a rebound while falling to the ice after Bobrovsky made the initial save on Shea Theodore’s shot.

“They'll always be rebounds,” Hertl said. “We just have to do a little more, myself included, to just get to the net and find the rebounds. Not every [goal] has to be pretty. We have to just dig in and be a little harder in both blue paints.”

Reinhart responded with a power-play goal to make it 3-1 at 4:54. He redirected Seth Jones' one-timer from the right point past the pad of Lindbom.

“We looked cold for the last four or five games,” Maurice said. “They moved it really well. We had a great backdoor chance that didn’t go, so you’re starting to feel snakebitten because we’ve had a few of those. It’s good that it’s a game-winner and off a shot tip.”

Barbashev made it 3-2 at 9:04. Brayden McNabb’s pass hit off the stick of Aaron Ekblad but still deflected right to Barbashev, who gloved it down and quickly roofed a shot over Bobrovsky's shoulder from the bottom of the right circle.

The Golden Knights outshot the Panthers 12-1 in the third period.

“It's not easy, but we’ve shown the last two games in the third period on how we're supposed to be playing, how we can play,” Hertl said. “We just dominate, but it's too late.”

NOTES: It was Bobrovsky's 437th career win, moving him into a tie with Jacques Plante for ninth in NHL history. ... Marchand is two points away from becoming the 102nd player in NHL history to get 1,000 points.