Avalanche score 7, defeat Panthers for 3rd straight win

Avalanche score 7, defeat Panthers for 3rd straight win

Rantanen gets goal, 3 assists; Reinhart point streak at 13 for Florida, which has lost 5 of 6

Avalanche at Panthers | Recap

SUNRISE, Fla. — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists, and the Colorado Avalanche won their third straight game with a 7-4 victory against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Jonathan Drouin scored twice, and Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and two assists for the Avalanche (12-9-0), who have won six of seven. Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves, and Cale Makar and Devon Toews each had two assists.

Sam Reinhart scored to extend his point streak to a career-high 13 games, and Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (12-8-1), who have lost five of their past six (1-5-0). Sergei Bobrovsky allowed six goals on 24 shots.

Carter Verhaeghe gave Florida a 1-0 lead 52 seconds into the first period, scoring on a sharp-angled shot off the side wall off a pass from Lundell. It was his first goal in seven games.

Drouin tied it 1-1 at 9:13 on a deflection off a shot from Makar that bounced off Bobrovsky.

Aleksander Barkov put the Panthers back ahead 2-1 at 15:44, batting down a rebound from Matthew Tkachuk.

Colorado then scored four consecutive goals in the second period.

Drouin tied it 2-2 just 34 seconds into the second on a backhand off a pass from Makar.

Logan O’Connor gave Colorado a 3-2 lead at 4:04 when he broke free on a Florida line change and beat Bobrovsky with a shot off the crossbar.

Samuel Girard extended it to 4-2 at 8:54 on a shot that hit the skate of Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov in front of the net and trickled past Bobrovsky.

Rantanen made it 5-2 at 16:58 when Girard found him alone on the side of the net for a tap-in.

Reinhart cut it to 5-3 at 18:40 with a power-play goal with 1:20 remaining in the second, deflecting a shot from Aaron Ekblad. Reinhart has 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) during his 13-game streak, which is the longest in the NHL this season.

Ekblad appeared to score his first goal of the season at 4:17 of the third period to make it a one-goal game when Florida had a two-man advantage, but his goal was immediately waved off for goalie interference on Tkachuk. Florida challenged the call, but the call was upheld following video review.

Oliver Kylington pushed it to 6-3 at 15:49 on a wrist shot, and Nichushkin scored an empty-net goal at 17:15 to make it 7-3.

Lundell scored at 18:17 for the 7-4 final.