The Florida Panthers have continued to show their dominance on home-ice, getting revenge on the Dallas Stars, 7-1 on Friday night. Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Bennett had four points each, with Bennett having a natural hat trick and an assist in the process. Sergei Bobrovsky also had another great night in net, stopping 29 of 30 shots faced. With the win, the Panthers point streak has been extended to eight games.
First Period:
The Panthers got off and running early in the first period. Three minutes in, Gustav Forsling would get his first goal of the season when he would finish a tic-tac-toe tapped-pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Bennett at the back post. Florida would extend their lead to 2-0 five minutes later when Jonathan Huberdeau set up a pass to Anthony Duclair in the face-off circle, who would shoot it far side past Jake Oettinger.
Second Period:
The Panthers would continue dominating the game going into the next period, scoring two goals in 30 seconds. Carter Verhaeghe would score at 5:33 when Brandon Montour and Aleksander Barkov set him up. At 6:03, the Panthers would extend the lead to 4-0 when Jonathan Huberdeau received a pass from below the hashmarks, and would snap the puck past an attempted block by Oettinger.
After allowing the fourth goal, the Stars would make a goaltender change to Anton Khudobin after Oettinger allowed four goals on 17 shots. Sam Bennett would score two goals to close out a four-goal period. After Jani Hakanpaa received two minutes for high-sticking Bennett, he would respond on the power play when Brandon Montour ran a give-and-go to Sam Bennett, who got into the slot and shot a wrister past Khudobin. Around three minutes later, Bennett would score another goal unassisted off of a Stars turnover in the Panthers zone.
Third Period:
Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout would end up coming to a close, a minute and six seconds into the period when Roope Hintz scored off of a long pass from Esa Lindell, which went on a backhanded slide. The game wouldn’t end without Sam Bennett completing a hat trick with just over four minutes. Bennett would take a return pass from Anthony Duclair and Jonathan Huberdeau out in front, and eventually past Khudobin. It would be Bennett’s second hat trick of the season (first was against the New York Islanders on October 16, 2021.)
Next Up:
The Panthers will play on Saturday night, the second night of a back-to-back at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
(Featured image by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)