Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov became the team’s all-time leading scorer on Monday night, beating former teammate Jonathan Huberdeau.
Florida (36-27-7) won 5-2 over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.
Paul Maurice’s troop, which is fighting for one of the last places available for the playoffs in the East, has won its last three games.
Barkov got an assist on his club’s third goal by Gustav Forsling, adding a 614th point to his tally as a member of the Florida squad.
The 27-year-old center, the second overall pick in the 2013 draft, took the lead alone in his 652nd NHL game. He has 238 goals and 375 assists so far on the Bettman circuit.
Carter Verhaeghe meanwhile scored twice, adding his 35th and 36th goals of the campaign, while Matthew Tkachuk and Marc Staal also beat Ville Husso.
“I’m not surprised (that he grabs the top spot),” Forsling said. He is a great leader off the ice. He really is a good person. Try to be like him, and it’ll probably work for you. ”
For his part, Huberdeau had totaled 613 points in 671 games in the uniform of the Panthers, before being traded to the Calgary Flames last July.
For the entire season, Barkov has 61 points in 56 games, including 43 assists.
The Wings’ reply (30-30-9) came from Pius Suter and captain Dylan Larkin. Derek Lalonde’s men have lost their last three games, all in regulation time. This victory allows the Panthers to move ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for second among the teams drafted in the Eastern Conference with their 79 points.
The Flames are having a bad time
The Los Angeles Kings scored four goals in the first period en route to a resounding 8-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Jacob Markstrom was put to the test, and the Alberta goaltender gave in five times before the halfway mark. He eventually ceded the cage to his assistant Daniel Vladar, after the Kings’ sixth goal.
Adrian Kempe scored twice and provided an assist. The Swedish sniper now has 34 goals to his name, one less than his career high, set in 2021-2022.
The Kings (41-20-10) now have the same number of points in the standings as the Vegas Golden Knights (43-21-6), holders of the first place in the West. However, they have one more game to play.
Carl Grundstrom, who blacked out the scoresheet twice, along with Drew Doughty, Gabriel Vilardi, Viktor Arvidsson and Mikey Anderson were part of their club’s attacking feast, while Anze Kopitar picked up two assists.
The Flames (31-25-15) see their task become more complicated, they who remain four points behind the Winnipeg Jets, which are positioned second among clubs drafted in the West.
In the loss, Tyler Toffoli moved closer to a second 30-goal NHL campaign. He added a 29th success this season, making it 4-1 early in the second period, during a massive attack.
Calgary’s other goal was scored by defenseman Noah Hanifin. The Flames fired just 18 shots on Pheonix Copley’s net, compared to the Kings’ 39.
No Makar? No problem
Mikko Rantanen scored his 47th goal of the season, Denis Malgin scored twice, and the Colorado Avalanche easily defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0.
Colorado, which had to manage without the services of its star defender Cale Makar, thus aligned a sixth success in a row.
For his part, goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves to sign the shutout, his fifth this year.
Malgin, who finished the game alongside Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon due to an injury to Evan Rodrigues, had the first three-point performance of his career.
Jared Bednar’s team, which has a 41-22-6 record, edged the Minnesota Wild (40-22-8) to second place in the Central Division standings.
Both clubs have the same number of points, 88, but the Avalanche have a game in hand.
The Hawks (24-40-6) for their part suffered a 40th loss in regulation time, in their 70th game of the season.
Kurtis MacDermid and Logan O’Connor completed the scoring for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Rantanen is the NHL’s third leading scorer, behind Connor McDavid (58) and David Pastrnak (48).
