Florida cruises after seven-goal burst in first period
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida’s franchise-record, seven-goal first period, and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 9-5, on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida scored six goals in the second period against Boston on April 5, 2000. Against Montreal, the Panthers came just shy of tying the franchise record for goals in a game set in 1997, going scoreless in the third period.
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.
Aaron Ekblad also scored twice for Florida, which pulled within three points of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot. It is 4-0-1 in its past five.
• AVALANCHE 5, SENATORS 4: Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Lars Eller scored a strange deciding goal, and Colorado beat host Ottawa for its fourth straight victory.
On what the Senators appeared to think was icing against the Avalanche in the second period, the puck bounced off the end boards and was in the corner of the crease by goalie Mads Sogaard’s pad. With Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson standing next to his goalie, no whistle came to end the play. After a couple of seconds, Eller skated in and jammed the puck past a confused group of Senators with 1:51 left.
• LIGHTNING 4, DEVILS 3 (SO): In Newark, Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored in the shootout to give Tampa Bay a victory over New Jersey.
Tampa Bay won its second in a row over New Jersey after a victory Tuesday.
Timo Meier had two goals in the third period for New Jersey.
• RANGERS 4, PENGUINS 2: Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an empty-netter, and Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves as host New York beat Pittsburgh to take a 10-point lead over the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division.
The Rangers went to 11-4-0 in their past 15 home games.
Captain Sidney Crosby assisted on both Pittsburgh goals. He leads the team with 83 points, ensuring the 35-year-old star will average a point per game for the 18th time in his 18 NHL seasons.
• BRUINS 3, JETS 0: Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for his third shutout of the season in Boston’s victory over host Winnipeg.
Trent Frederic, Pavel Zacha and Tomas Nosek scored to help Boston rebound from its first consecutive regulation losses of the season and raise its league-leading record to 51-11-5.
• OILERS 4, STARS 1: Connor Mcdavid scored his Nhl-leading 57th goal and added an assist in host Edmonton’s victory over Dallas.
• BLACKHAWKS 2, PREDATORS 1: Alex Stalock made 35 saves and Lukas Reichel and Joey Anderson scored for Chicago in its win over host Nashville.
Before the game, Chicago announced that forward Cole Guttman had surgery on his right shoulder and is expected “to be out of hockey activities for approximately four months.”
Blues’ Binnington suspended
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was suspended two games without pay for throwing a punch at Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman.
Binnington received a match penalty in the second period of Wednesday’s 8-5 loss to Minnesota for swinging his blocker glove at Hartman.
• COYOTES: Arizona signed 21-year-old forward Josh Doan, who has played the past two seasons at Arizona State, to a threeyear entry-level contract, beginning next season. Doan’s father, Shane, played 21 seasons with the franchise, many of those as captain and now serves as Arizona’s chief hockey development officer.