Aleksander Barkov’s hat trick paves way for Florida Panthers rout over Montreal Canadiens

Have a night, Aleksander Barkov.

The Florida Panthers’ captain put together his most complete game of the season on Thursday in the team’s first game back since the league’s Christmas break and Barkov’s first game back in nearly two weeks.

Barkov recorded a hat trick in the first period and tied a career high with five points overall in Florida’s 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at FLA Live Arena. The Panthers improve to 16-16-4 and snap their three-game losing streak. Montreal falls to 15-18-3.

“Such a dynamic man,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

The hat trick was Barkov’s fourth of his NHL career and he scored all three goals in a span of 15:22 to open the game — the fastest hat trick in Panthers history.

His first goal came when a Gustav Forsling shot from the point deflected off Barkov’s skate and into the net past Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault 2:37 into the game. Barkov added his second goal about nine minutes later with a wrist shot from the left circle on the power play and then completed the hat trick with 4:38 left in the opening period when he corralled a loose puck in from of the net and pushed it past Montembeault. The power-play goal was Barkov’s 67th of his career, a Panthers franchise record.

“It feels like I got some bounces there,” Barkov said. “Playing with really good players, they’re going to find me. That’s about it.”

Barkov, who had six goals total this season entering the game, also had assists on both of Matthew Tkachuk’s power-play goals — one apiece in the second and third periods. Tkachuk had a three-point and now has 43 points overall (17 goals, 26 assists) in 33 games.

Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen added goals in the third period. For Verhaeghe, it was his team-leading 18th goal. For Luostarinen, it was his ninth of the season — tying his total from last season.

Montreal scored both of its goals in the first period.

Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 27 shots he faced.

According to NHL public relations, Barkov became just the second skater in franchise history to record a hat trick in the first period of the game, joining Steve Reinprecht (Oct. 30, 2009).

He is also the sixth different player in Panthers history to score three goals in a single period at any point in a game. The others: Pavel Bure (Dec. 8, 1999, third period against the Phoenix Coyotes and Jan. 1, 2000, third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning), Reinprecht, Vincent Trocheck (Feb. 12, 2018, third period against the Edmonton Oilers), Noel Acciari (Dec. 20, 2019, second period against the Dallas Stars) and Frank Vatrano (Jan. 21, 2020, second period against the Chicago Blackhawks).

Barkov’s five-point night tied his career high, previously set on March 8, 2019, when he had a five-assist night against the Minnesota Wild.

“He just changes all parts of your game,” Maurice said. “Take the five points aside, he’s going to take the faceoffs on the power play that are critical and take the faceoffs on the penalty kill that are critical. The matchups. He keeps the minutes down for everybody so that there’s more energy off the bench. And then, yeah, five points.”

It was a needed night for Barkov, who has struggled to string together consistently solid outings early in the season and then has been in and out of the lineup over the past month due to illness and injury.

Barkov, who scored a career-high 39 goals last season and had 88 total points in 67 games, didn’t score his first goal of the season until Florida’s ninth game and has yet to string together a point streak of three games or more.

The 27-year-old center also entered Thursday having missed 10 of the Panthers’ previous 19 games — first sidelined for seven games over a 10-game stretch with an illness and then missing the past three with a lower-body injury sustained in the waning seconds of the first period on Dec. 17 against the New Jersey Devils.

“You don’t want to think about it,” Barkov said Wednesday about missing extensive playing time lately. “You don’t want to think about ‘OK, what do I need to do now because I’ve been out?’ You just want to get back to the things you’ve been doing. Yeah. It’s not an ideal situation to be out for a little bit, come back, be out again, come back, be out again. It’s not what I want to do, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. Just need to stay strong.”

And like Barkov individually, Thursday was needed night for the Panthers overall. They entered the day nine points out of a playoff spot with a little more than half of the season left to play. There is a sense of urgency inside the dressing room, with players knowing how crucial each game the rest of the regular season is for their postseason hopes.

The Panthers’ priority now is to sustain the intensity they had on Thursday.

They play the second half of a back-to-back on Friday at the Carolina Hurricanes, the second of a 15-game stretch over 27 days and the first of 10 road games over those four weeks.

“We know what we need to do,” Verhaeghe said, “and we want to do it again.”