Greer, Panthers complete sweep of Stars at Global Series Finland

Greer, Panthers complete sweep of Stars at Global Series Finland

Forward breaks tie in 3rd period for Florida, which has won 5 in row

Stars at Panthers | Recap | Global Series

TAMPERE, Finland — A.J. Greer scored the go-ahead goal in the third period for the Florida Panthers in their fifth straight win, 4-2 against the Dallas Stars in the second game of the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal at Nokia Arena on Saturday.

The Panthers won 6-4 here on Friday.

Greer scored his first goal with Florida at 2:32 when he rifled a wrist shot off a face-off win by Tomas Nosek, who was playing his second game of the season.

Sam Reinhart scored for the fourth straight game, and nine different players had a point for the Panthers (9-3-1), including assists by Finnish players Aleksander Barkov and Niko Mikkola. Spencer Knight made 23 saves.

Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Casey DeSmith made 21 saves for the Stars (7-4-0).

Once again, the seven Finland-born players in the game — Stars forward Roope Hintz and defensemen Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen, and Panthers forwards Barkov, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Mikkola — were involved in the opening face-off and cheered for loudly by the sold-out crowd.

Evan Rodrigues scored the first goal for the second straight game, redirecting a shot from Mikkola into the top far corner at 14:45.

Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal at 8:47 of the second period, redirecting a shot by Uvis Balinskis for a 2-0 lead.

Barkov, who had a goal and three assists Friday, had the secondary assist to give a Finnish player a point in each of Florida’s first eight goals here.

Dallas closed the gap to 2-1 at 11:22 when Evgenii Dadonov scored while Barkov was in the penalty box.

Duchene, who had his second straight two-point game, tied the score 34 seconds later at 11:56 with his team-best seventh goal, depositing the rebound of a shot by Heiskanen.

Reinhart, who also had an assist, scored an empty-net goal at 19:00 of the third. He has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 13 games, the fewest required to reach 20 points in Panthers history.