Panthers win 6th in a row as Predators' woes continue

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist, Aleksander Barkov had three assists for the second time in less than a week and the Florida Panthers beat the Nashville Predators 6-2 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory.

Sam Reinhart got his 11th of the season and pushed his goals streak to five games for the Panthers, who got a goal and an assist from Matthew Tkachuk and two assists from Uvis Balinskis. Tomas Nosek also scored for Florida.

Sergei Bobrovsky got career win No. 403 to tie Grant Fuhr for 12th on the career list.

Steven Stamkos and Juuso Parssinen scored for Nashville. It was the 83rd official time, including playoffs, that Stamkos played against the Panthers — the first with him wearing something other than a Tampa Bay sweater.

The Predators (4-9-1) have nine points, the fewest through 14 games in franchise history. They had 10 points through 14 games three previous times, most recently last season.

Predators: Including playoffs, Stamkos has 52 goals against the Panthers. That's the most by any Florida opponent; Alex Ovechkin has 45 goals against Florida. In regular-season games only against Florida, Ovechkin leads Stamkos 44-42.

Panthers: This is Florida's fourth regular-season winning streak of at least six games since the start of last season. Before that, the Panthers had 10 such streaks — in their first 29 seasons combined.

Reinhart and Tkachuk scored 1:41 apart in the first period, staking Florida to a 2-0 lead just 5:14 into the contest.

Florida (10-3-1) has 10 wins through 14 games for the fourth time in club history. It also happened in 1995-96 (10-4-0), 2020-21 (10-2-2) and 2021-22 (10-2-2).

Predators: Host Utah on Saturday night, before going back on the road for a five-game trip.

Panthers: Host Philadelphia on Saturday night, the second of five straight in Sunrise.

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