Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers hold Sharks at bay

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, leading the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.

Aleksander Barkov also scored for the Panthers, who have won 11 straight games against the Sharks and have points in six straight overall (5-0-1).

Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed Florida's previous two games due to the birth of his child, made 28 saves for his 14th career win against San Jose.

Tyler Toffoli had the Sharks' lone goal. San Jose has dropped back-to-back games on the heels of a three-game winning streak.

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 50 shots in the loss.

Florida outshot the Sharks 13-6 in the opening 20 minutes and led 1-0 after the first period.

Tkachuk opened the scoring 23 seconds into the game, batting in his own rebound out of mid-air for his ninth goal of the season. With an assist on the marker, Sam Bennett extended his point streak to seven games.

Florida took a 2-0 lead on Tkachuk's second score of the night, as the Panthers forward beat Blackwood with a backhand at 10:05 of the second period. Tkachuk has five goals and 10 assists during a six-game point streak.

Barkov made it 3-0 on a power play, one-timing a Carter Verhaeghe cross-ice feed past Blackwood for his eighth tally of the season at 13:17 of the middle frame.

Toffoli got the Sharks on the board on a power play at 18:35 of the third period, redirecting a Mikael Granlund pass past Bobrovsky for his team-leading 11th goal of the campaign.

On Friday, the Panthers recalled forward Mackie Samoskevich from the Charlotte Checkers and loaned goaltender Chris Driedger to the AHL club.

Samoskevich started on Saturday and finished with a shot on goal in 9:08 of ice time.

Saturday marked the first meeting of the season between San Jose and Florida.

--Field Level Media