San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
League-leading Panthers leave Sharks in dust
Former San Jose forward Kane scores in debut for Edmonton
Sam Bennett scored 1:08 into overtime and the Florida Panthers came from behind to beat the San Jose Sharks 5-4 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla., for their ninth straight victory at home.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, and Gustav Forsling added a goal and an assist for Florida. Aleksander Barkov and Mason Marchment also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots in front of a season-high crowd of 18,152.
The Panthers (31-9-5), who lead the NHL with 67 points, have won three in a row and eight of 10. They improved to 23-3-0 at home.
“Obviously the crowd was great, kept us going in some different stretches,” interim Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. “The feeling on the bench, we were having trouble scoring but we felt we were close. Fun game. We’re a very entertaining team and our fans left happy.”
Jonathan Dahlen had two power-play goals, and Tomas Hertl and Matt Nieto also scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 44 saves.
“That was a fast game and they come in waves,” San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. “Real good offensive team. No. 1 in the league in puck possession and you can see why. We get a point on the road in a building that is not that forgiving to visiting teams.”
Dahlen’s second goal put the Sharks ahead 4-2 at 4:50 of the third period before the Panthers scored twice to tie it. Marchment found a loose puck in the crease and stuffed it into the net at 7:30 for his third goal in three games. Florida pulled even on Huberdeau’s goal with 10:22 left in regulation.
Bennett won it when he took a pass from Huberdeau from behind the net and pushed in
the puck from in front.
“We all know we can score some goals,” Huberdeau said. “We had chances, Reimer was playing well. We kept working, didn’t give up.”
Hertl put the Sharks ahead 1-0 when he got inside the crease and shoved the puck between Bobrovsky’s pads at 6:10 of the first.
Dahlen’s shot from the high slot at 17:17 of the second made it 2-0.
“That’s a great hockey team and (Reimer) played a great game,” Dahlen said. “This was the fastest game I’ve seen in my NHL career.”
Oilers 7, Canadiens 2: Former Sharks forward Evander Kane scored in his Edmonton debut, and Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl each had two goals,
leading visiting Edmonton to a win over struggling Montreal.
It took Kane 11:21 to score his first goal with the Oilers as Edmonton’s newest signing redirected Evan Bouchard’s shot from the point. Kane had four hits in the game and avoided the penalty box.
Golden Knights 3, Lightning 2: Mark Stone beat Andrei Vasilevskiy in the seventh round of the shootout to give Vegas the win over host Tampa Bay.
Maple Leafs 7, Red Wings 4: Michael Bunting had three goals and visiting Toronto rallied for five unanswered goals in the third period to beat Detroit.
Flyers 4, Kings 3: Scott Laughton scored 2:22 into
overtime, Cam Atkinson had two goals in regulation and assisted on the winner and host Philadelphia snapped a franchise-record 13-game losing streak.
Hurricanes 2, Devils 1: Antti Raanta made 24 saves in his first action in nearly a month as host Carolina beat New Jersey.
Jets 4, Blues 1: Paul Stastny scored twice, Eric Comrie made 24 saves in his first start since early last month and Winnipeg beat host St. Louis to snap a six-game losing streak.
Ducks 2, Senators 1: John Gibson made a season-high 44 saves and Troy Terry and Rickard Rakell scored in Anaheim’s victory in Ottawa.