SUNRISE, Fla. _ The Wild, who entered with an eight-game points streak and vying to stay in a Western Conference playoff spot, looked discombobulated all over the ice Friday, and the Panthers made them pay during a three-goal first period en route to a 6-2 victory at BB&T Center.
At 1 minute, 1 second, winger Jonathan Huberdeau slid the puck between goalie Devan Dubnyk's pad and the near post _ an early gaffe that seemed to set an ominous tone.
Florida tallied another at 11:18 when defenseman Aaron Ekblad walked in for a backhander, but the goal was wiped off the scoreboard after the Wild challenged for off-side _ improving its record to 4 for 9 in coach's challenges.
But the Panthers recovered quickly on a pair of goals from defenseman Mackenzie Weegar. His point shot bounced off defenseman Ryan Suter at 16:51 before another wind-up sailed by Dubnyk just 1:40 later.
Dubnyk finished the period with four saves on seven shots and was replaced by backup Alex Stalock to start the second, but the change didn't help wake the Wild.
Back-to-back penalties gave the Panthers a 5-on-3 setup, and they capitalized on a one-timer from winger Mike Hoffman inside the right faceoff circle. Florida went 1 for 3 with the man advantage, while the Wild were 0 for 3.
Eventually, at 9:02, the Wild scored _ a Jonas Brodin point shot that banked off winger J.T. Brown. But the Panthers retaliated on a blistering shot from defenseman Mike Matheson off the rush at 17:40.
Only 15 seconds later, the Wild responded on a put back by winger Marcus Foligno.
In the third, Florida added a sixth on a wrap-around shot by Matheson at 10:23.
Captain Aleksander Barkov tallied a franchise-record five assists.
Stalock totaled 19 saves, and Sam Montembeault had 26 for Florida.
Despite the loss, the Wild remained in the second wild-card seed but they failed to gain ground on idle Arizona _ which is just three points shy with two games at hand.
