Takeaways as Florida Panthers blow out Oilers to shake off back-to-back shutout losses
After getting shut out in back-to-back games, the Florida Panthers knew they needed to get back to their game — and do it quickly — as they got to the back end of their season-long five-game road trip.
They certainly did that on Saturday.
The Panthers scored early and often in a 5-1 steamrolling of the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in a performance that looked more like the team Florida has been for most of the season.
And the Panthers (18-10-2) got production from just about all of their main contributors.
Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett each had their first three-point games of the season. Verhaeghe scored twice and added an assist to bring his season totals to 15 goals and 11 assists. Bennett had a power-play goal and a pair of assists.
Top-line center Aleksander Barkov and defenseman Brandon Montour each scored goals as well with Montour also chipping in an assist. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a two-assist game.
Even goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky got an assist (more on that in a minute).
It was a needed reset performance for the Panthers, who are now 2-2-0 on this trip that ends Monday against the Calgary Flames, especially considering they were playing without defenseman Aaron Ekblad (lower-body) as well as forwards Anton Lundell (illness) and Jonah Gadjovich (illness).
Here are three takeaways from the game.
The Panthers finally scored a goal...
Exactly how long had it been since the Panthers scored a goal before Verhaeghe buried his wrist shot 5:33 into regulation to open scoring on Saturday?
Try 126 minutes and 34 seconds.
The most recent goal before Verhaeghe’s first-period snipe against Edmonton (13-14-1) was Eetu Luostarinen’s empty-net goal with 1:01 left in the Panthers’ 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. Florida was then shut out in consecutive 4-0 losses to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday and Vancouver Canucks on Thursday — the first time the Panthers failed to score a goal in consecutive games in 12 years.
They didn’t have to worry too long that the streak might extend to three games, which would have tied a franchise record.
... And then they kept scoring
The Panthers led 3-0 by the end of the first period, needing just 13 shots on goal to build that lead.
Montour doubled Florida’s lead with 1:02 left in the period with a snap shot in the slot on a feed from Verhaeghe. Less than 30 seconds later, Barkov tipped in a long shot from Ekman-Larsson to cap scoring in the opening frame.
Bennett then scored on the power play with 3:59 left in the second period to put Florida up 4-1 and Verhaeghe pushed the lead to 5-1 when he scored in the opening 30 seconds of the third period.
Even Sergei Bobrovsky got involved in the scoring
As if the Panthers didn’t have enough players return to their goal-scoring and point-producing form, Bobrovsky decided to join in on the fun as well.
Bobrovsky, who was stellar in net with an 38-save effort, was credited with the secondary assist on Bennett’s power-play goal in the second period.
It was Bobrovsky’s first regular-season point with the Panthers — he had an assist in the Panthers’ Game 7 win against the Boston Bruins on their way to the Stanley Cup Final last season.
Bobrovsky’s 11 career regular-season assists are the sixth-most among active NHL goaltenders, behind only Marc-Andre Fleury (21), Jonathan Quick (20), Andrei Vasilevski (18), Jacob Markstrom (16) and Frederik Andersen (14).
“I’m sure he loves helping out on the offense,” Bennett said during a Bally Sports Florida intermission interview. “Our power play needed it, so maybe we just needed to give it to Bob a little more.”
Bobrovsky’s performance in net marked the 374th win of his NHL career. That ties him with John Vanbiesbrouck for the 18th-most in NHL history. Vanbiesbrouck played 882 career games. Bobrovsky got to the mark in his 665th career game.
