The Florida Panthers celebrate Anton Lundell’s goal. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Monday night has arguably been Florida’s most chaotic game of the season. It featured exclusively offense from both the Canucks and the Cats, with team defenses nowhere to be found, and goaltending was optional. It wasn’t Bobrovsky’s most shining night, but with the win, he did move into 9th on the NHL’s all-time wins list.  The Panthers set a franchise record as 16 different players found their way onto the scoresheet. However, more bad news on the injury front as another Panther is expected to be added to the IR list, upping the total to 6. 

4 Goals, 5 Minutes:

The first period didn’t start out as chaotic as the rest of the game eventually got. It was rather uneventful for the first 15 minutes of play, with the Cats controlling most of the possession. However, that all changed in the final five minutes of the period, where the Canucks scored two quick goals from O’Connor and DeBrusk. The O’Connor goal was an unlucky one, where Bob thought he had the puck covered under his glove, but it wasn’t. O’Connor picked it up by Bob’s pad and opened the scoring. Florida’s PK units didn’t have a shining night either, as DeBrusk scored on the power play. No one picked him up on the far side away from the puck, and a quick cross-ice pass led to an easy goal. Things looked bleak for about 40 seconds, and then A.J. Greer got the Panthers on the board with a response goal. A drop pass from Bennett found Verhaeghe, and then Carter made a quick pass to Greer, who was coming up the middle. Greer took the shot from about the blue line and found the back of the net. Time was winding down, and it looked like Florida was going to go into intermission down a goal. But during a late power play, Jones picked up the puck from Bobrovsky behind the net and skated into the zone with numbers. A quick give-and-go pass with Reinhart gave Jones all the time and space he needed to shoot the puck 5-hole and tie the game with less than 10 seconds to go. The teams headed into intermission with a 2-2 tie, and things only got more chaotic from there. 

Taking Control:

After fighting back to tie the game, the second period was pretty much all Panthers. Three straight goals were scored to take a commanding 5-2 lead until the Canucks got one back to cut the lead back down to two. Luke Kunin scored his first goal as a Panther. Hard work from Gregor to keep possession in the offensive zone, he made a play toward the net where Kunin was able to pick up the rebound and stuff it home to take Florida’s first lead of the night. Rodrigues doubled the lead when an incredible no-look pass from Reinhart from behind the net went straight onto his tape. Evan then took the shot and put it in glove side. Boqvist with the secondary assist as his hard work along the boards got the puck ahead to Reinhart. Ekblad held the puck in and got it down to Marchand, who found an open Lundell in the faceoff circle. No hesitation from Lundell as his shot went in top-shelf over Patera’s shoulder for the 5-2 lead. A 2-on-1 opportunity for the Canucks resulted in an E. Pettersson goal to cut the lead back to two heading into the final period. 

Resiliency:

You could say that things went a bit wrong to start the third period. A second goal from E. Pettersson on a backhand shot that hit the post and bounced in followed by a power play goal from Hronek, tied the game at 5-5. It didn’t stay tied for long as Bennett tipped in a shot from Mikkola. The whole sequence was started by Bennett & Verhaeghe working to get the puck in deep, giving Greer a scoring chance. Florida picked up the rebound and got the puck to Mikkola for the shot and a tip-in by Sam over Patera’s shoulder. Jones scored again on the power play. Quick passing got the Canucks moving and opened up passing lanes for Verhaeghe in the center to find Reinhart down at the goal line. Reinhart then found Jones, who had moved to the net front and quickly shot it in for Florida’s 7th goal of the night. Marchand got the empty-netter from the faceoff circle in Florida’s zone to continue his incredible start to the season. Other players the notched assists include Bobrovsky, Forsling, and Balinskis. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses with goal scoring as Cole Schwindt collided with Bobrovsky in the first period and went down the tunnel, where he didn’t return to the game. HC Paul Maurice didn’t have much of an update other than he’s being looked at on Wednesday, and they’re expecting Schwindt to be out for a significant amount of time. If Florida fans can take one thing away from this season, it’s that they shouldn’t lose hope. Panther TV Commentator Steve Goldstein pointed out on his X account on Monday night that if they win against the Devils on Thursday, they’ll be within one game of their record through 20 games in comparison to the last two seasons. So, despite the laundry list of injuries, the Panthers are still in a very good spot when looking at their Cup Run regular seasons. 

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