The Florida Panthers rediscovered their offensive mojo in Alberta, getting two goals and an assist from Carter Verhaeghe in a much-needed 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
On the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves to prevent his club’s losing streak from growing to three games in one of his best performances of the season thus far.
Verhaeghe opened the scoring 5:33 into the first, shortly after Bobrovsky made back-to-back stops on Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
After receiving a pass from Verhaeghe at the right point, Oliver Ekman-Larsson sent the puck to Sam Bennett behind the net. Bennett came out from below the goal line and found a streaking Verhaeghe, who snapped the puck past Calvin Pickard.
The Cats went up by two at 18:58 when Bennett threw the puck around the boards to Verhaeghe below the goal line and he fed out in front to Brandon Montour and the defender fired in his goal of the season from the slot. Say goodbye to the schneid, Brandon!
Florida would get another 29 seconds later with Aleksander Barkov putting home a rebound after Pickard stopped his nifty deflection of Ekman-Larsson’s low shot from the right point and then Sam Reinhart’s follow-up attempt.
The Oilers finally broke through 8:08 into the second, scoring off the rush with McDavid centering to Nugent-Hopkins, who dished off his right to Zach Hyman, who roofed a backhander over Bobrovsky.
A great individual effort by Bennett restored the Panthers three-goal lead at the 16:01 mark with Brett Kulak off for high-sticking Evan Rodrigues. After Bobrovsky handed the puck to Montour, he lugged it up ice before passing to Bennett at center ice. Bennett took it to net and manuevered around Pickard before depositing the biscuit over the line on the backhand.
After opening the scoring, Verhaeghe would complete it with a stop-and-shoot dart from the right circle after taking a crossing pass from Matthew Tkachuk on a odd man-rush just 21 ticks into the final frame.
The Panthers swept the season series against the Oilers to end its two-game scoring drought and losing streak. Great performances from Bobrovsky and the second line, who combined for seven points and nine shots on goal, to lead the way. Florida is now 2-2 on the road trip and can make it a successful trek west with a win in Calgary on Monday night.
Pressure & Viscosity
- Carter Verhaeghe earned First Star honors for his first multi-goal game of the campaign. His three points were also a season-high. Verhaeghe finished the tilt with four shots and a plus-three rating.
- Sam Bennett also collected three points and went plus-three for the first time this season. It was his first multi-assist game of the 2023-24 campaign.
- Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard saw his 13-game point streak come to an end. Bouchard amassed five goals and 20 points during the torrid run. He led the Oilers with six shots on goal.
- Despite some troubles in the dot, Aleksander Barkov had a strong game. Barkov potted his 11th goal and finished with a game-high seven shots and was credited with two hits.
- Calvin Pickard made 34 saves and took his second loss of the season while giving Stuart Skinner a rare night off.
- With Aaron Ekblad out, Josh Mahura returned to the lineup for the first time in a month. Mahura logged 14:51 TOI and had two hits and blocked two shots.