Panthers yield 4-goal 3rd in dropping 6th straight
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Loui Eriksson had a goal and two assists as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 Sunday.
Ben Hutton, Markus Granlund, Brock Boeser and Jay Beagle also scored for Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.
Frank Vatrano scored for the Panthers, who have lost six straight. Roberto Luongo had 31 saves.
Despite playing for the visitors, Luongo, the former Canucks netminder, received raucous cheers of “Louuuu!” from the crowd every time he stopped the puck.
Vancouver controlled play from the outset, keeping the Panthers pinned in their own end for long stretches.
Eriksson opened the scoring 12:32 into the second period. The left-winger picked off a pass from Mike Hoffman at the Panthers’ blue-line and drove into the offensive zone. He beat Luongo with a wrist shot for his eighth goal of the year.
The Panthers responded early in the third, just as Vancouver’s Nikolay Goldobin was released from the box after a hooking penalty.
Using a screen from former Canucks player Jared McCann, Vatrano scored on a backhanded shot past Markstrom that tied the game.
Hutton scored less than two minutes later, flicking a shot past Luongo. It was the Vancouver defenseman’s first goal in 30 games.
Boeser scored on an empty net after Luongo was pulled with 2:27 left in the game. Eriksson was credited with an assist.
He added another assist when Beagle scored an empty-net goal with 38 seconds left.
Granlund finished up the scoring, sending a shot past Luongo with 11 seconds remaining.
NOTES: Canucks fans showed that they hadn’t forgotten what happened when the teams last played in mid-October. The matchup in Florida saw Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson hit Elias Pettersson and toss him to the ice. The Canucks’ rookie star left the game and was sidelined with a concussion for two weeks. There was no penalty on the play, but the league later suspended Matheson for two games. But it was Panthers center Michael Haley who dropped the gloves with Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Officials allowed the pair to swing at each other for a few minutes before Gudbranson fell to the ice. Both were give five-minute penalties for fighting.