The Florida Panthers are only five wins away from defending as Stanley Cup champions. On Saturday night we saw how electrifying their offense can be. They set a franchise record for most goals in a single playoff period with five in a dominant 6-2 Panthers win over the Carolina Hurricanes. With the win, the Panthers lead the best out of seven Eastern Conference Finals three games to none. The five goals were unanswered and came in the third period with the game tied at one goal apiece.
Who scored the five goals for the Panthers?
The five goals came in the third period. Panthers centre Jesper Boqvist of Falun, Sweden put Florida up 2-1 at 1:29 of the third period from centre Evan Rodrigues of Toronto, Ontario and veteran defenseman Aaron Ekblad of Windsor, Ontario. The Panthers went up 3-1 as defenseman Niko Mikkola scored from centre Sam Bennett of Holland Landing, Ontario and winger Matthew Tkachuk of Scottsdale, Arizona. Mikkola’s goal was the game-winning goal at 6:26 of the third period and was his second goal of the game. He opened the scoring at 12:07 of the first period from Rodrigues and captain Aleksander Barkov of Tampere, Finland.
Barkov then scored the next two Panthers goals. He put the Panthers up 4-1 from Tkachuk at 6:55 of the third period. Barkov’s goal came 29 seconds after Mikkola’s game-winning goal. Barkov then put the Panthers up 5-1 from Boqvist at 9:31 of the third period. It is safe to say, Barkov’s two goals in a span of two minutes and 36 seconds gave the Panthers a dominant four goal lead that was impossible for the Hurricanes to come back from. Then at 10:37 of the third period, the Panthers went up 6-1 as Brad Marchand of Halifax, Nova Scotia scored from Boqvist and Anton Lundell of Espoo, Finland.
Who else has scored five times in a period in the third round?
The Dallas Stars accomplished the feat on Wednesday. They scored five third period goals in a 6-3 game one win over the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals.
