SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers scored off deflections and with screens. They scored off no-look passes, on the power play and even shorthanded.
Like they almost always do, the Panthers scored a ton Tuesday to blow out another quality opponent in Sunrise. Florida scored twice early and then three times in the second period to beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, for their sixth win in seven games since the NHL season restarted last month following a brief pause brought on by rising COVID-19 cases across the league.
The win at FLA Live Arena kept the Panthers tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the the league and they’ve piled up their 53 points in two fewer games than their in-state rival. Florida also has the second best points percentage in the NHL, behind only the Carolina Hurricanes, whom the Panthers beat Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.
In its seven games since the pause, Florida is averaging 5.4 goals per game and has outscored its opponents 38-29, with its only loss coming in a shootout Thursday in Dallas. The Panthers have beaten the first-place Hurricanes and Lightning, the second-place New York Rangers and Calgary Flames, plus a handful of other playoff contenders.
The Canucks, who had won eight of nine, fit into the latter category and Florida spent most of its latest win with a multi-goal lead.
The Panthers scored twice in the first seven minutes — both off point shots — to take a 2-0 lead. On the first, star defenseman Aaron Ekblad fired a shot from outside and it got past Thatcher Demko as a screen by forward Maxim Mamin blocked the star goaltender’s vision. On the second, defenseman Radko Gudas fired from the point, then immediately dropped his gloves to fight Vancouver forward J.T. Miller as forward Sam Reinhart deflected the shot into the net.
Florida played with a two-goal lead for more than five minutes before Canucks forward Jason Dickinson finally answered to cut the Panthers’ lead to 2-1 at the end of the first period. In the second, Florida answered Vancouver with another flurry.
Reinhart scored on a power play with 11:14 left in the second, then Mamin scored 26 seconds later on a backhanded one-timer off a no-look, between-the-legs feed from center Anton Lundell in the left corner.
With 59.4 seconds left in the first period, star center Aleksander Barkov got a short-handed breakaway, outskating Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to get to a loose puck along the right-hand boards, and beat Demko to send the Panthers into the third with a commanding 5-1 lead.
It was another showcase performance for the Eastern Conference’s highest scoring offense, which is now averaging 3.91 goals per game — more than a half a goal per game more than anyone else in the East.
The stars all came through — Ekblad is only the third defenseman in the league to hit 10 goals, Barkov now stands alone in the league lead with three short-handed goals and All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau, at least for the moment, jumped up to fourth in the league in points with two assists — but Florida, again, provided a reminder its success is about more than just its biggest names.
Mamin, who has played in only 18 games, played a key part in two goals and the Panthers scored more goals with physical, net-front play — using deflections and screens — than they did with the wide-open play, end-to-end play they’ve rightly earned a reputation for.
Throw in 42 saves on 44 shots for goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky — his third most saves this year — and it was the type of well-rounded performance Florida knows it will need to make a run at the Stanley Cup this year.
