Historic first period propels Florida

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida’s franchiserecord, seven-goal first period Thursday and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 9-5, in Sunrise, Fla.

Florida is the first NHL team to score seven goals in the first period since the Hartford Whalers on Oct. 19, 1985.

In all, the teams combined for 10 first- period goals to tie the NHL record for goals in a first period. It also was the fastest first 10 goals in an NHL game, with Florida getting the 10th goal at 13:18.

“I have never seen anything like that. In 25 years, never seen that many goals,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “There were more goals than chances to score and that is a rarity. All I can say is it affected the game for both teams and I do not think anything on video is useful to the game of hockey. It was almost Twilight Zone: Every puck went in.”

Aaron Ekblad also scored twice for Florida, helping the Panthers pull within three points of the final wild-card spot. They are 4-0-1 in their last five.

Other games Avalanche 5, Senators 4:

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Lars Eller scored the deciding goal and Colorado won its fourth in a row, beating the Senators in Ottawa. Nathan MacKinnon added three assists.

Lightning 4, Devils 3:

Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored in a shootout to give Tampa Bay a second consecutive win against New Jersey in a week in which the teams meet three times in six days.

Bruins 3, Jets 0: Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for his third shutout of the season as Boston won in Winnipeg. The league-leading Bruins were coming off their first consecutive regulation losses of the season.

Notes

St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was suspended two games without pay for throwing a punch at Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman in an 8-5 loss to the Wild on Wednesday.