It never hurts to head into Las Vegas feeling good about yourself, something the Florida Panthers did after a pitstop in San Jose. The thing about Vegas is, no matter how good you feel coming off the plane,

Closing out the scoring explosion in the second period, Sam Reinhart took a tap pass from Tkachuk, who went flying through the slot to make it happen, and fired a shot into the back of the cage to put the Panthers up 7-2 at 16:25. In the third period, the Panthers shut the door.

The Florida Panthers sure bounced back from their blown lead in Los Angeles in a big way on Saturday. Skating against the struggling San Jose Sharks, Florida was dominant for much of the night, eventually earning an impressive 7-2 victory.

Matthew Tkachuk scored once in a three-point outing while Aaron Ekblad collected one goal and one assist in his return to the lineup to pace the visiting Florida Panthers to a 7-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks (14-32-6), who have lost six straight and nine of ten. Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots before being pulled early in the second period for Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped 14 of 17 shots in relief.

Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks (14-32-6), who have lost six straight and nine of ten. Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots before being pulled early in the second period for Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped 14 of 17 shots in relief.

The Rising Phoenix Dragon and Line Dance Association performed during the first and second intermissions of Saturday night’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers at SAP Center, part of the home team’s celebration of the Lunar New Year.

DETROIT — Cam Talbot stopped 28 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Saturday night. Marco Kasper redirected J.T. Compher’s shot at 9:55 of the second period, and Michael Rasmussen scored an empty-netter in the final minute to clinch Detroit’s victory.

The Florida Panthers will celebrate some milestone nights on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings. Not only will Dmitry Kulikov play in his 1,000th NHL game, but Paul Maurice will coach in his 1,900th game.

Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (upper body) is good to go for Saturday's game against the San Jose Sharks. After missing eight of the last nine games, Ekblad came through Friday's practice session without any issues.

After missing each of the last seven games, top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad will return to the blue line for the Florida Panthers when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.