After starting their road trip with a loss in Calgary against the Flames, the Florida Panthers pranced back in a big way to get their first win in Canada this season. Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was the star of the hockey show at Rogers Place, shutting out the Oilers with 40 huge saves throughout the contest. A very close second star of the night was Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov with two goals on the night. 11 Panther players hit the score sheet against one of the NHL’s best teams.
Recap
The first period was all Oilers and Bobrovsky as Edmonton out-shot Florida 17-7. But, Bobrovsky stopped every puck shot his way and both teams were tied at zero after the first intermission.
The second period is when the Panthers turned up the heat and scored twice. First on the power play, captain Aleksander Barkov put one past Oilers net-minder Mikko Koskinen. The assists on that goal were credited to Sam Reinhart and Jonathan Huberdeau.
Less than three minutes later, Panthers Center Carter Verhaeghe shot another puck past Koskinen to make it two-to-zero in favor of the Panthers. Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour secured the assists on the Verhaeghe goal. The period ended with 29 shots for Edmonton and only 13 for the Cats.
Less than eight minutes into the third frame, Barkov sniped his second goal of the game off a beautiful pass from Defenseman Radko Gudas. Late in the third, Anthony Duclair, Sam Bennett, and Owen Tippett scored on back-to-back-to-back goals to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
That was the final score in Edmonton as Florida shut out one of the NHL’s best teams with speedster Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The Panthers now sit at a record of 27-8-5, tying the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic division with 59 points.
Up Next
The Panthers will now travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks on the second night of a back-to-back (Friday, January 21st). The Cats look to take the momentum from Edmonton across the country to Vancouver.
After that, the Panthers travel to Seattle for the first time to take on the Kraken in a revenge game. The Kraken were victorious against the Cats in Sunrise on November 27th.