The Florida Panthers had another big night on Thursday with a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings for their fifth straight win.
Florida has now won 17 of its 21 games dating back all the way to Dec. 15 and has 67 points overall. The Panthers who remain atop the Atlantic Division now have padded their lead to seven points.
Not only has Florida won games at an exceptional pace, but it also done so with impressive scoring efforts. This was the fourth consecutive game that the Panthers scored at least five goals and they have outscored their opponents 25-8 during the win streak.
At the 8:30 mark of the first period, Brandon Pirri got the scoring started for Florida with his tenth goal of the season. Pirri's goal came with assists from both Alex Petrovic and Jaromir Jagr.
A little more than two minutes later, it was Aleksander Barkov's 15th goal of the season that gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Reilly Smith and Aaron Ekblad picked up assists on the power play goal.
Vincent Trocheck's 16th goal of the year rounded out the scoring in the first period with an assist from Jagr. This goal came only 25 seconds after Barkov's and gave the Panthers a quick 3-0 advantage.
It would take some time for Florida to score again as the next goal would come at the 16:13 mark of the second period. With the score 3-2 at the time, Derek MacKenzie gave Florida some breathing room with his fifth goal of the season. Pirri and Corban Knight helped out with this goal.
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Jagr completed another big day with his 16th goal of the season in the third period. The veteran was assisted by Trocheck and Jussi Jokinen on the score. Trocheck would add an empty net goal of his own in the final minutes as well. The second of the day and 17th goal of the season for Trocheck had assists from Smith and Jokinen on it.
The Panthers will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night in search of their sixth straight victory.
