The Florida Panthers turned a wild, high-scoring night into their most explosive performance of the season, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 8–5 on Monday. Sam Bennett delivered the decisive blow early in the third period, capping a furious Florida rally that saw the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions win for the third time in four games.
Seth Jones scored twice, and Luke Kunin, Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, A.J. Greer, and Brad Marchand added goals for Florida, which poured in five straight tallies after falling behind 2–0 late in the first period. Sam Reinhart had three assists, Carter Verhaeghe added two, and Sergei Bobrovsky earned the win with 10 saves in a night dominated by offense on both sides.
Elias Pettersson led the Canucks with two goals, while Drew O’Connor and Jake DeBrusk each scored as Vancouver dropped its fourth game in five outings (1-2-2). Quinn Hughes registered three assists, and Kiefer Sherwood and Evander Kane each had two, but Jiri Patera’s 33 saves weren’t enough to slow Florida’s relentless attack.
Vancouver struck first with DeBrusk and O’Connor scoring 36 seconds apart for a quick 2–0 lead. Florida answered in explosive fashion.
Greer got the Panthers going at 15:50 of the first, finishing a crisp tic-tac-toe passing play from Bennett and Verhaeghe. With just under eight seconds left in the opening frame, Jones tied the game by beating Patera from the right circle on a late rush.
Florida carried the momentum into the second. Kunin tapped in a rebound at 2:23 to give the Panthers their first lead. Rodrigues extended it to 4–2 moments later, cashing in from the slot off a slick, no-look backward feed from Reinhart behind the net. At 7:17, Lundell buried a shot from the right circle to push the lead to 5–2.
Pettersson cut into the deficit at 7:55 of the second, then pulled Vancouver within one with his second goal at 1:24 of the third. Filip Hronek completed the comeback at 3:14, blasting a power-play shot past Bobrovsky to tie the game 5–5.
Just 48 seconds later, Bennett delivered the key moment of the night, deflecting Niko Mikkola’s slap shot at 4:02 of the third to restore the Panthers’ lead. Jones followed at 8:19 with his second goal, a power-play strike from in front that made it 7–5.
Marchand sealed the victory with a short-handed empty-net goal at 18:14, capping the Panthers’ season-high eight-goal outburst.
Canucks: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. Panthers: Continue their homestand Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.
