The Florida Panthers played a total of 13 games during the month of November and compiled a 7-5-1 record that kept the team firmly on a playoff pace.
Up for your consideration are five of the standout individual offensive performances, oddly three from defensemen, from that long ago autumn month. Here are the candidates…
Jonathan Huberdeau – three points (2G/1A) in 4-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings (11/2)
The Panthers opened November by cruising to an easy win over Detroit at the BB&T Cneter. Huberdeau set up Aleksander Barkov’s power-play late in the first period for a 2-0 lead; cleaned up after Barkov flubbed the rebound of the winger’s original stuff attempt at 6:45 of the second; and then completed the scoring with 9:54 remaining in the game when he redirected Yandle’s perfect feed home to cap off a fine bit of passing by Florida top five-man unit.
Evgenii Dadonov – three points (1G/2A) in 6-5 SO win over the New York Rangers (11/10)
Dadonov did his damage early in this wild back-and-forth affair at Madison Square Garden. He drew the only assist on Barkov’s first period goal; beat Henrik Lundqvist early in the second period while on a power play to give the Cats a 3-2 to lead, and then set up Frank Vatrano later in the frame to tie the score at four apiece.
Keith Yandle – three points (1G/2A) in 5-4 SO win over the Boston Bruins (11/12)
The Panthers came back to win a game after trailing by four goals for the first time ever in large part due to Yandle’s third period heroics at TD Garden. Yandle drew the primary assist on Aaron Ekblad’s blistering shot 50 seconds into the third to get the Cats on the board. He set up Mike Hoffman’s power-play goal at the 9:43 mark before tying the score with 1:39 remaining when he roofed the rebound of a Barkov backhand that was denied by Tuukka Rask.
Aaron Ekblad – three points (2G/1A) in 5-4 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks (11/21)
Ekblad had a huge evening, scoring the Panthers third goal at the 11:55 mark of the third period and then he centered his own rebound into the blue paint for Dominic Toninato to stuff the puck home 3:42 later to finally forge a tie. The winning goal came when Ekblad beat John Gibson short-side, bar-down 22 seconds into the extra session. It was the first time in his NHL career that Ekblad scored twice in the same game.
Anton Stralman – two goals in 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators (11/30)
Stralman scored his first two goals as a Panther to put the Cats up by two in this home ice win that closed out the month. The defenseman moved in to pound home the rebound of Colton Sceviour’s shot 1:06 into the middle frame to open the scoring and then scored again 8:38 into the third when he moved down from the blue line to convert a nifty backhand pass from Vincent Trocheck.
Who had the best offensive performance in November?
| Jonathan Huberdeau (11/2) | 6 |
| Evgenii Dadonov (11/10) | 4 |
| Keith Yandle (11/12) | 3 |
| Aaron Ekblad (11/21) | 20 |
| Anton Stralman (11/30) | 0 |
| Other (explain in comments) | 1 |