Ducks want to forget this one
Florida’s Vrbata has seventh hat trick and Anaheim goalie Gibson is yanked after two periods.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers made the most of their opportunities.
Radim Vrbata recorded his seventh career hat trick to lift the Panthers to an 8-3 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night.
“We just didn’t have anything going tonight,” said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, who wanted to quickly move on to the next game. “You just flush it, but it’s hard to flush. Coaches don’t flush that easily.”
Eight goals are a season high for the Panthers, and it came on a season-low 22 shots. Thirteen players recorded points for the Panthers.
“We didn’t have too many shots on net, but the ones we had we made them count and had some lucky bounces, too,” Vrbata said.
Evegenii Dadanov scored two goals and Vincent Trocheck and Aleksander Barkov each had a goal and two assists for the Panthers, while Owen Tippett, the youngest player in the NHL at 18, scored his first career goal. James Reimer made 31 saves.
“Barkov was a beast again tonight, and Vrbata obviously came up big and great to see the kid [Tippett] get his first too,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “There was a lot of great things that happened out there.”
Kalle Kossila scored his first NHL goal for the Ducks, who were coming off a 6-2 victory at Philadelphia in the opener of a four-game trip.
Andrew Cogliano and Logan Shaw also scored.
John Gibson gave up six goals on 17 shots in two periods and was replaced by Reto Berra to start the third period. Berra stopped three shots.
Vrbata’s third goal came off a rebound and gave the Panthers a 7-2 lead at 8:39 of the third. Vrbata’s seven hat tricks are with five teams. The last one was Dec. 7, 2015 for the Vancouver Canucks against the Buffalo Sabres.
“You always want to start the season on a good note and score early and get it out of the way,” Vrbata said. “Then you have a game like this where everything you touch seems to go in so I will take it.”
Dadanov’s second goal made the score 8-3 with 2:41 left.
The Panthers scored six goals on their first 15 shots.
Tippett’s goal put the Panthers ahead 2-0. Jamie McGinn passed from the left circle across to Tippett in front and he poked in the puck at 4:23 of the first.
“Obviously it’s a pretty special feeling with my first NHL goal,” Tippett said. “I knew if I focused on my game and did the little things right that my chances would come and I’d be able to bury them.”