Reliving Barkov's dominant 5-assist night
Aleksander Barkov was a man among boys Friday night, racking up a franchise-record five assists during the Florida Panthers' 6-2 dismantling of the Minnesota Wild.
Barkov didn't waste any time getting started. On his first assist, he tricked Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk into thinking he was going to take the puck behind the net, but instead fed Jonathan Huberdeau with a quick pass for an easy short-side goal.
JONATHAN HUBERDEAU JUST A MINUTE IN!#FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/IB7XVMLI0z
- Hockey Daily (@HockeyDaily365) March 9, 2019
After Barkov picked up his second assist on a point shot from MacKenzie Weegar late in the first period, the Panthers captain showed no signs of slowing down to begin the second. On the power play, he threaded a beautiful cross-ice pass to Mike Hoffman, who made no mistake on the one-timer.
After picking up a secondary assist on Mike Matheson's sixth goal of the year, Barkov kept the pedal to the metal.
The six-year veteran had the puck on a string on his fifth and final helper of the evening, weaving through the Wild like pylons to gain the zone before handing off to Matheson for his second tally of the game.
No big deal, but this is @Barkovsasha95's FIFTH tonight, a franchise record with the @FlaPanthers. pic.twitter.com/3FSKNxvuL7
- NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2019
The center didn't do it all on his own though. His line featuring Huberdeau (one goal, three assists) and Evgenii Dadonov (three assists) combined for 12 points in the contest.
Barkov, a candidate for the Selke Trophy as the NHL's top defensive forward, jumped from 34th in the league in assists to tied for 20th. Not bad for a night's work.
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