While most teams reached the quarter point of the season, the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers faced off on Monday night with both teams looking for a win. They entered this game with nearly identical records, with the Panthers having one fewer loss than the Canucks, and both teams ranked sixth in their respective divisions. Jiri Patera suited up for his first game as Vancouver’s starting goaltender, and Sergei Bobrovsky kept the crease for Florida.
To summarize
Early in the first period, Florida appeared to have the advantage as they began to take the early lead in shots. An early power play made the Panthers look like the stronger team, but the Canucks were able to survive Florida’s hot start. Both teams exchanged chances until the Canucks opened the scoring with about five minutes left in the period.
Tyler Myers fired a puck near the point, and Drew O’Connor tried to grab the rebound in front. He was unable to get the puck cleanly in a dangerous spot, and it looked like Bobrovsky was going to cover up the puck, but he misplayed the rebound and O’Connor had a wide open net to put the Canucks up 1-0.
Shortly after going up 1-0, Vancouver got a power play and they looked to double their lead. Kiefer Sherwood picked up the puck in the left corner and sent it to Jake DeBrusk for a tap-in to make it 2-0 Canucks. But after the Canucks doubled their lead, the Panthers answered right back with a beautiful passing play, finished by AJ Greer, that cut the Canucks’ lead in half. Then, near the end of the period, Vancouver took a penalty, giving Florida a man advantage. The Panthers converted their power play with a goal from Seth Jones, tying the game and sending both teams into the locker room with a 2-2 score.
Early in the second period, the Panthers gained their first lead of the game with a goal from Luke Kunin. Noah Gregor skated through the Canucks defense and put a backhand on net. Patera started flopping all over his crease and the rebound went right to Kunin with a wide open net, giving the Panthers a 3-2 lead. Nearly four minutes after taking the lead, Sam Reinhart sent a beautiful no-look pass to Evan Rodrigues, and he scored to extend the Panthers’ lead to 4-2.
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Just over a minute later, the Panthers extended their lead and took a 5-2 lead. Brad Marchand put Anton Lundell ahead with a beautiful pass, and Lundell placed his shot perfectly an increase of three goals. Thirty-eight seconds later, Vancouver got a goal back to cut the lead to two. Quinn Hughes broke out on a 3-on-1 and he sent the puck to Evander Kane, who sent the puck to an open Elias Pettersson, and the Canucks cut the lead to 5-3. After a wild second period with four goals, just like the first, the game came to a standstill and Florida led 5-3 at halftime.
By the start of the third period, Vancouver came within one goal. Sherwood sent the puck to Pettersson, who hit a backhand past Bobrovsky to make the score 5-4. Two minutes after the Pettersson goal, the Canucks got a power play and Max Sasson sent a great pass to Filip Hronek for a tap-in goal to tie the game at 5-5. Although it was a great comeback from Vancouver, Florida got back to work and quickly answered with a Niko Mikkola shot that was tipped by Sam Bennett to give the Panthers a 6-5 lead. Florida was awarded another power play after the Bennett goal, and Reinhart set up Seth Jones for another goal to make the score 7-5 Panthers. Marchand added an empty-net goal for Florida, securing an 8-5 victory for the Panthers.
The Canucks’ next game will be at home against the Dallas Stars on Thursday as they look to bounce back, and the Panthers will host the Devils in their next game, hoping to continue their winning ways.
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