In Sunrise, it just got silly in the first period of the match between the Panthers and the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
A total of 10 goals were were put up on the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes, and at one point the game was tied, 3-3, with 11 minutes gone in the stanza.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “In 25 years, never seen that many goals. 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.”
Then, the Panthers ripped off four goals in four minutes for a 7-3 lead after the first, en route to a -9-5 win on Thursday.
“Defensively we, like, forgot everything,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “Offensively, we had three goals after three shots, but you have to know how to defend. I know we know how to defend, but tonight we forgot everything. I don’t know if it was a lack of effort. I’d say we weren’t very smart on the ice defensively.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves in the Panthers win.
Florida improved to 34-27-7, and set a record fr the franchise in goals in a single period.
Montreal took a 1-0 lead with 16 seconds gone in the first period.
Florida replied with two goals, 34 seconds apart, to take a 2-1 lead, Colin White and Verheghe were the Panthers’ strikers.
Montreal dropped to 27-36-6 off their eighth loss in nine games.
Montreal tied it, 2-21 on a marker form Anthony Richard tied the score 2-2 at 5:20.
The Panthers reclaimed the lead, 3-2 on goal from Gustav Forsling‘, but Michael Pezzetta tied it 3-3, before the outburst from the Panthers.
“At 3-3, the game did settle down a little bit,” Ekblad said. “I am happy we settled down in the second and third and ended up on the right side of this one.”
Aaron Ekblad, Ryan Lomberg, Sam Reinhart, and Verhaeghe’s second of the period made it 7-3.
Montreal got one back, early in the second period , on a strike by Rafael Harvey-Pinard for a 7-4 count to Florida.
The Panthers were on a roll in the first and continued the offense with a pair of goals including the second from Ekblad, and goal from Matthew Tkachuk for a 9-4 lead headed to the third.
“If you came 30 minutes late, you missed it,” Tkachuk said. “Hope people did not get stuck in traffic. Definitely we have some things to clean up, but a win is a win. We did score a ton of goals, so we did a lot of good things as well.”
Montreal picked up a power play goal from Rem Pitlick in the sixth minute of the third for the 6-5 final.
There was a carousel in the Montreal crease.
Sam Montembeault got the start the Habs and yielded three goals on just six shots before getting the hook in the first.
“I can’t imagine mentally what he was going through,” Montreal forward Rem Pitlick said of Montembeault. “You’re kind of off, goals go in, you’re off the ice. And then as a goalie, you want to get your touches, I’m sure, and you’re cold and you have to be flexible, all those different things.
“So, for him to kind of like bear that mentally and come back and play well and play strong, good for him. And I think that’s a good sign of character.”
Jake Allen was called in and he surrendered six goals and made 12 saves before he got the hook in the second period.
Montembeault returned the nets in the frame and made a total of 21 saves in the loss.
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