In Sunrise, the Florida Panthers recovered from blowing a 2-0 lead in their game with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday and managed a 5-3 win.
Matthew Tkachuk hit for a hat trick in the win.
“He’s going to put up enough points this year to be a truly elite player,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s still a young man that’s coming into it, and there’s a whole bunch of his game that he’s going to get better and better at. This guy’s a rock star.”
Spencer Knight made 33 saves in the win.
Eric Staal scored a pair of goals for the Panthers.
Florida improved to 17-18-4.
Tkachuk scored early in the first for a 1-0 lead to the Panthers.
“I try to always be at the net, doing that consistently in every game, that’s where the goals are scored,” Tkachuk said. “You’ve got to be there.”
Staal followed that up with his first of the night and a 2-0 lead.
“To do what he’s doing is pretty impressive,” Marc Staal said of his brother, who did not play in the NHL last season. “He’s always had a knack for the net. Early on, he had some chances that weren’t going in for him, but now he’s finding a way to bury it.”
The Coyotes dropped to 13-18-5, and have lost 10 straight on the road.
The Coyotes rallied with a power play goal from Jakob Chychrun with three seconds left in the first period.
“We didn’t defend well,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They put a lot of pucks on net. They’re a volume team with rebounds, and we knew that. For us, it’s a matter to be prepared and play well against certain teams, and that’s on me to do a better job.”
Clayton Keller tied the game, 22, at 5:17 of the middle frame.
“But that’s a hungry team, we knew that coming into it and I don’t think their record reflects how good they actually are,” Coyotes forward Nick Bjugstad said. “I didn’t think we had enough juice. … That’s a good team that’s hungry, and they were just hungrier than us.”
Tkachuk and Bjugstad then traded goals for a 3-3 tie in the second period.
“When they tied the game, we got better in our second period,” Maurice said. “We didn’t bend at that point. … They just beat [the] Colorado [Avalanche], they beat [the Los Angeles Kings], they put up six [goals] on [the] Toronto [Maple Leafs]. It was a good National Hockey League win.”
Staal scored his second of the game at 16:01, and Tkachuk finished his hat trick at 19:29 for the 5-3 final.
Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves.
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