The 29-year-old grew up in the Tappara program, watching his father, Alexander Barkov Sr., play for Tappara’s professional team, which he eventually played for himself before being selected No. 2 overall by the Panthers in the 2013 NHL Draft.

After becoming the first Finnish-born captain to win the Stanley Cup last season with Florida, he brought the trophy to Nokia Arena on July 31 as part of his day to share with fans.

It seemed like the perfect homecoming for Barkov, putting in a performance in this building on Friday that earned him Player of the Match honors.

“We’re happy for him, but I think maybe we saw this game from him,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We get to see it quite often. That’s why he’s a star in our league. The people who were part of his development, and not just his hockey development, the teachers in town – I asked him if he lived around here and he said “about a mile” from the two schools, which he visited, so his life is right here. It’s in this area.

“So there are a lot of proud Finns here tonight, from his third-grader to the peewee hockey coach to all the people who have been a part of his development.”

As happy as Barkov was, his teammates seemed even happier for him. Linemate Sam Reinhart, who scored two goals and made a deft pass to Barkov to set up his 3-on-2 goal, didn’t seem to mind that Barkov got most of the attention.

“I remember my first game in Vancouver,” said Reinhart, a native of West Vancouver, British Columbia. “You’ve thought about this your whole life. This wasn’t even on (the Finnish players’) radar, his radar, his whole life. So for him it’s an enrichment for this moment.”

It started with Barkov’s opening shift, when he helped set up Rodrigues’ deflection goal that opened the scoring 28 seconds into the game, and continued throughout the evening. Barkov also assisted on Reinhart’s shorthanded goal, which gave the Panthers a 4-2 lead at 6:07 of the second period, and Reinhart’s even score at 10:08 of the third period, which made it 6-2.

“I don’t think things could have gone better for ‘Barky,'” Lundell said. “That’s why I’m really happy that he can lead the team and play perhaps his best game of the season. He hasn’t played too often, but he was really good today.”

This was only Barkov’s fourth game of the season and second since returning after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. He found a way to recover in time for the Global Series and has shown no rust since his return, collecting six points (two goals, four assists) in the two games.

Barkov will have another chance to play in front of his hometown fans when Florida meets Dallas (7-3-0) again in the second and final game of the Global Series on Saturday (noon ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN1). . .

What could he do for an encore?

“We expect,” said Maurice, “that it will happen again tomorrow.”