In Sunrise, the visiting Vancouver Canucks lost their first regulation match under head coach Bruce Boudreau, 5-2, to the Panthers, on Tuesday night.
“There were a lot of things we didn’t do well,” Boudreau said. “It’s never fun when you lose. This brought us down to earth a little bit.”
Sam Reinhart hit for a pair of goal for the Panthers.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything special,” Reinhart said. “I think we’re playing a pretty simple game offensively. We’re getting bodies to the front of the net and getting the puck there at the right times. We’re all on the same page there and we’re being effective.”
Aaron Ekblad picked up a goal and three points for Florida, and Aleksander Barkov added a shorthanded goal and two points to the sheet.
“[Starting fast is] extremely important, especially at home,” Ekblad said. “It’s important for us. Making good, simple plays early, getting a good forecheck, it really puts a team on their heels, and scoring that first goal is huge.”
The Panthers improved to 24-7-5.
“I thought we played a really good second period, kind of took over the game,” Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette said. “It was a hard game. We got those goals early, but they buzz. They play hard for Bruce. We’ll take the win and move forward.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves in the Panthers win, they are 6-0-1 in their last seven.
Jason Dickinson and Juho Lammikko scored for Vancouver.
“We have to come out of this game with something positive, we have to win the third period,” Boudreau said. “Adversity reveals character. We did a good job in the third right to the last second. That’s a positive to take out of tonight.”
The Canucks dropped to 16-16-3.
Maxim Mamin also scored for the Panthers.
Thatcher Demko made 21 saves in the Canucks loss.
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