It was a matter of time before the Florida Panthers found the back of the net on Friday night. They were firing shots early and often at Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne to no avail.
Finally, over 10 minutes in the second period, the floodgates temporarily opened.
Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe both scored in the frame — with the two assisting on each other’s goal — and the Panthers held on down the stretch for a 2-1 win over the Predators at the BB&T Center.
Florida (6-0-2), still the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss this season, avenged their 5-4 overtime defeat to Nashville from Thursday. The Predators are now 5-6-0.
Barkov and Verhaeghe, two-thirds of Florida’s top forward line that also features Anthony Duclair, have scored 10 of the Panthers’ 28 goals through the first eight games of the season.
Chris Driedger stopped 24 of 25 shots that came his way to improve to 3-0-1 in four starts. The only goal he gave up came 4:04 into the game, when the puck bounced off Colton Sissons’ skate after Dreidger blocked Sissons’ shot attempt and trickled into the net.
Driedger held Nashville in check the rest of the night and gave his offense time to crack open the scoreboard.
It started with Barkov just under six minutes into the second period. The Panthers’ captain took a feed from Verhaeghe that went past two Predators defenders and quickly let off a wrist shot from the left side of the net to tie the game.
About 10 minutes later, with 4:29 left in the period, Verhaeghe gave the Panthers their first lead of the game with a snap shot after getting a return feed from Barkov. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar started the play with a turnover in the neutral zone. Verhaeghe leads the Panthers with six goals through eight games. All six of his goals have come at even strength.
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