Read the reports from Wednesday’s NHL games.
A double from Matthew Tkachuk propels the Panthers
Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals and the Florida Panthers defeated the Arizona Coyotes 6-2 on Wednesday.
Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.
Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley responded for the Coyotes. Karel Vejmelka stopped 37 pucks.
The game began with two fights in the first seven seconds of play. The first pitted Ryan Lomberg against Jack McBain, while the second took place between Gadjovich and Liam O’Brien.
Players from both teams met at center ice during warmups. Those of the Panthers were not happy after a hard check from behind by Jason Zucker caused a concussion for Nick Cousins during the January 2 match between the two clubs.
Zucker was with the Coyotes, but he was not involved in these score-settling.
Reinhart extended his point streak to 11 games. There have been 60 since the start of the campaign.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice led an 1813e regular season game, which places him alone in second place in National Hockey League history, ahead of Barry Trotz (1,812) and behind Scotty Bowman (2,141).
Colby Guy, Associated Press