The Florida Panthers exploded offensively to pull off a wild 8-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Amerant Bank Arena in a game that saw huge shifts in momentum and not much in the way of defense.
Picking up where they left off in Tampa, the Canucks struck twice within a 24-second span of the first period to grab a two-goal lead.
Drew O’Connor was able to dig the puck free from Sergei Bobrovsky glove after he put the puck on goal after a Tyler Myers shot missed wide at 14:50. The red-hot Quinn Hughes drew the secondary assist.
A tripping penalty on Uvis Balinskis 16 seconds later led to Jake DeBrusk’s power-play goal at 15:14. Kiefer Sherwood took a pass from Hughes and then rifled a bullet backdoor feed to DeBrusk, who beat a helpless Bobrovksy.
The Panthers would score on a 3-on-3 rush 36 seconds later to halve the deficit. After taking a headman pass from Jeff Petry, Sam Bennett dropped to Carter Verhaeghe, who centered to A.J. Greer, who snapped a shot from the high slot past third-stringer Jiri Patera. It was the third-straight shot to find the back of the net.
Seth Jones would sing like Ann Wilson, evening it up with a eight seconds left in the frame by shooting between the pads of Patera after lugging the puck up the ice and working a quick give-and-go with Sam Reinhart at the Vancouver blue line. Bobrovsky was credited with the second assist on the power-play marker that came shortly after Mackie Samoskevich drew a slashing penalty on Hughes before he was flat-out robbed by the glove of Patera.
Florida would forge ahead 2:23 into the second when Noah Gregor collected Gustav Forsling’s dump into the left corner and niftily worked his way through the slot before throwing a backhand through Elias Pettersson on Patera that bounced right onto the stick of the waiting Luke Kunin, who deposited the puck into the vacated net. It was Kunin’s first goal as a Panther and Gregor’s first point as member of the Cats.
An ungodly, no look, against the grain, Gretzky-like backhand pass from behind the net from Reinhart to Evan Rodrigues put the Panthers up a pair at the 6:10 mark. Jesper Boqvist got the second assist, moving the puck to Reinhart behind the cage following an offensive zone faceoff.
The Cats would notch a fifth-straight goal 1:07 later when Aaron Ekblad sent the puck to Brad Marchand in the corner and he fed Anton Lundell in the right circle. Lundell cracked a rising wrister over Patera’s blocker into the far-side top corner
After inadvertently helping the Cats by taking Patera out of the play on Kunin’s goal, Pettersson got one back for his team 38 ticks after Lundell’s goal. Pettersson was wide open on the left side and easily finished off Evander Kane’s crossing pass to complete a 2-on-1 break with Hughes picking up his third helper of the night.
Pettersson would get another, assists to Sherwood and Tom Willander, by roofing a backhander from in tight 1:24 into the third, and then defenseman Filip Hronek would rap Max Sasson’s centering pass past Bobrovsky with the Canucks up a man 1:50 later, with Kane collecting another assist, to tie score in shocking fashion.
The Panthers would stop the bleeding and respond to the Vancouver’s three-goal burst just 48 seconds later. Uvis Balinskis moved down low to collect a rebound and fed back out to Niko Mikkola at the left point. Sam Bennett presented his blade and Mikkola cranked a slap shot at it and the puck elevated over Patera’s blocker to give the Cats the lead back.
Insurance came at 8:19 when Jones notched his second of the night with Pettersson off for interference. Verhaeghe passed to Reinhart down low and he found the activated Jones in the slot. Jones one-timed the puck home much to give the Panthers some breathing room.
Marchand would complete the scoring with an unassisted long-range empty-netter with 1:46 remaining after a defensive zone faceoff, putting him just one behind the NHL’s leading goal-scorer, Nathan MacKinnon.
That was completely atypical of what we’ve come to expect from the PoMo Panthers, but the 80s-flavored game was a fun one to watch as the Cats lit up Patera, who was making his first NHL start of the season, stuffed the stat sheet and finished with 41 shots on goal. The homestand will continue on Thursday when the New Jersey Devils pay a visit.
The Five Hole
Fifteen of Florida’s eighteen skaters collected at least a point in the 8-goal onslaught. The only players not to were Mackie Samoskevich (+2), Jeff Petry (+1) and Cole Schwindt (2:36 TOI). Schwindt left the game early after colliding with Sergei Bobrovsky. Unfortunately, it looks like he will be out long term.
Speaking of Bobrovsky, he had a strange night. He was beaten five times on 15 shots, still got the W, picked up his first assist of season and is now in sole possession of ninth-place on the NHL goalie wins list with 438, leaving legend Jacques Plante in his rear view.
After producing just three assists in the first 18 games of the season, Sam Reinhart had three primary helpers last night. Reinhart and Quinn Hughes were only players to finish the tilt with three points.
Seth Jones delivered his first multi-goal game of the campaign and leads Florida’s defense corps with three goals. In addition to his two PPGs, Jones was credited with five shots, three blocks and a hit.
How ridiculous has Brad Marchand been in November? He’s got eight goals and four assists in eight games. He’s officially on an 8-game point streak and has points in his last 11 outings.
Stat Card
