SUNRISE, Fla. _ Florida Panthers forward Noel Acciari, a veteran of 209 NHL games in his fifth season, never had a multi-goal game in his career.
Did he make a statement on Monday.
Acciari recorded his first career hat trick and helped jump-start a struggling Panthers offense in their 6-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at the BB&T Center. The win snapped Florida's three-game losing streak.
Aleksander Barkov, Mike Matheson and Dominic Toninato rounded out scoring for the Panthers (16-12-5). Barkov's power-play goal in the second period snapped a three-game skid in which Florida failed to score on the man advantage. Matheson's one-timer and Toninato's tip-in capped a five-goal middle period.
And it's hard to discount Jonathan Huberdeau's four assists _ helping on Acciari's first two goals, Barkov's power play goal and Matheson's second-period goal _ that gave him 400 career points in his 500th career game. Huberdeau, already the Panthers' all-time assist leader (264 as of Monday), is now just the second player in franchise history to eclipse the 400 career points mark. He is 19 away from tying Olli Jokinen for the franchise record.
It was the type of offensive performance coach Joel Quenneville was looking for after the Panthers managed just four goals in their three games prior _ all losses. The lack of production was unacceptable, especially considering the Panthers' 3.31 goals per game average ranks fifth in the NHL and the team has seen improved performance from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers offense needed a reset.
So those four forward lines? Overhauled. New three-person grouping from top to bottom.
"When you're not happy with results," Quenneville said, "that usually leads to looking at your options. We're looking for some balance and some consistency."
Acciari, bumped up to the second line and working with center Vincent Trocheck and left wing Huberdeau, took full advantage and had the results to show for it.
The 28-year-old opened scoring with 10:18 left in the first period when he backhanded a feed from Keith Yandle and Huberdeau in front of the net past goaltender Andres Nilsson.
Acciari made it 2-0 with a slap shot from the left side of the goal 1:18 into the second period. The Senators (14-18-2) avoided the shutout with an Artem Anisimov goal 47 seconds later. Barkov's power-play goal with 14:19 left in the period put the Panthers up 3-1.
Five minutes later, Acciari sealed his hat trick with a backhanded shot that slipped past Nilsson on feeds from MacKenzie Weegar and Aaron Ekblad.
It was the Panthers' second hat trick of the season, with the other accomplished by Mike Hoffman in Florida's 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 5 to begin their home schedule.
And not to be lost in the mix was another solid night by Bobrovsky, who saved 29 of 30 shots against him.
Bobrovsky's save percentage over his past six games: .953, stopping 203 of 213 shots against him. He has given up no more than two goals in five of the six games.
