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.

With the Panthers earning nine seconds of a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period, Aleksander Barkov made the most out of that limited time by winning a faceoff draw in the offensive zone, going to the net and scoring to make it 2-0 at 4:43.

The Panthers, who have won four of their last six, erased an early one-goal deficit with six unanswered goals to coast past the host San Jose Sharks.

Lundell also talks about playing with Panthers teammate Aleksander Barkov for Team Finland, his excitement for the first best-on-best tournament featuring NHL players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and more during his interview with podcast co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad had a goal and an assist in his return from an upper-body injury and the Florida Panthers routed the San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday night.

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.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions! Today, like every day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each. We’ll also break down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play a part.

Barkov will lead fellow Finnish Cats Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola at tournament from Feb. 12-20

The Panthers have eight players total slated to participate in the tournament: Four for Finland (Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola), two for Canada (Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett), one for the United States (Matthew Tkachuk) and one for Sweden (Gustav Forsling).

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.

SUNRISE, Fla. – Take a bow, Dmitry Kulikov. When the Florida Panthers host the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday, the veteran defenseman will suit up in the 1,000 th game of his career. A special milestone, he will become the 402nd skater to hit that mark in NHL history.

The 4 Nations Face-Off is now less than two weeks away. It begins Feb. 12 at Bell Centre in Montreal. Most NHL teams have six, seven or eight games remaining before the League breaks for the first best-on-best hockey tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016.