A.J. Greer powers Panthers past Stars in Finland
A.J. Greer scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday and a sweep of the 2024 NHL Global Series in Tampere, Finland.
Greer collected the puck off a faceoff win by Tomas Nosek and fired a shot into the top corner to give Florida a 3-2 lead at 2:32 of the third period.
Sam Reinhart, who had an assist on Evan Rodrigues' goal in the first period, scored into the empty net with one minute left in the third.
Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal and Spencer Knight made 23 saves for the Panthers, who have won five straight games. Florida posted a 6-4 win over Dallas on Friday.
Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist and Casey DeSmith made 21 saves for the Stars.
Tkachuk made it 2-0 for the Panthers with a power-play goal at 8:47 of the second period. He was able to get his stick on Uvis Balinskis' shot from above the slot to tip the puck past DeSmith.
The Stars pulled even with a pair of goals 34 seconds apart in the second period.
Evgenii Dadonov got things going for Dallas with a power-play goal at 11:22. Wyatt Johnston sent a cross-ice pass to Dadonov, who took it inside the right circle before firing a wrist shot between the pads to cut it to 2-1.
Duchene forged a tie at 11:56. Miro Heiskanen fired a blast from the blue line, and Duchene was at the side of the net to backhand the rebound past the outstretched glove of Knight.
Rodrigues gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 14:45 of the first period. Reinhart sent a pass down the left wall to Niko Mikkola at the point, and Mikkola's one-timer from the point deflected off Rodrigues' stick, sending it under the bar and in.
Reinhart's assist was his 20th point of the season in his 13th game. It's the fewest games to 20 points in a season in Panthers history, surpassing the previous mark of 14 games.
Stars forward Tyler Seguin missed the game with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day.
