SUNRISE, fla. - Brad marchand of the Boston Bruins reached a career milestone Thursday night, recording his 1,000th NHL point with two assists as the Florida Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals 6-3. Sam Reinhart led the Panthers’ offense with two goals.
Eetu Luostarinen, Seth Jones, Cole Schwindt, and Evan rodrigues also scored for Florida, who are embarking on a stretch where they play 11 of 12 games at home. Marchand‘s milestone came on assists to Jones’ goal late in the third period and luostarinen’s empty-net goal with 1:30 remaining.
Through 1,116 regular season games, Marchand has accumulated 335 goals and 665 assists. Jones and Rodrigues each scored their 100th career NHL goal in the victory.
Florida backup goaltender Daniil Tarasov secured his first win with the club, stopping 37 shots. Rasmus Sandin, Justin Sourdif, and Brandon Duhaine scored for the Capitals, who finished a four-game road trip with a 1-3 record.
The Panthers took a 3-1 lead in the second period on goals from Reinhart and Schwindt. Schwindt broke a 1-1 tie 3:05 into the period, and Reinhart extended the lead with a power-play goal at 5:19, capitalizing on a rebound after Logan Thompson stopped Carter Verhaeghe’s initial shot.
After Sourdif cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the third, the Panthers responded with goals from Reinhart and Jones.
The Panthers played without injured players Aleksander Barkov, Dmitry kulikov, and Jonah Gadjovich. However,coach paul Maurice indicated that Matthew Tkachuk,recovering from offseason surgery,may return to play in the coming weeks.
The Capitals will host new Jersey on saturday night. The Panthers will host Tampa Bay on Saturday.
