In Sunrise, the Florida Panthers showed why they picked up Sam Bennett at the trade deadline this year.
On Monday night, the former Calgary Flames forward scored his first goal with his new club in a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“It’s been nice to see new guys come in,” Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said. “Bennett has come in here from Calgary and has had a couple of nice games for us, giving us some presence physically and that line looks like there’s some fun growing between the three of them.”
Frank Vatrano struck for two goals for the Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves to earn the win.
“It’s always fun to win, and definitely against your former team, it’s maybe a little bit more special,” Bobrovsky said. “It definitely gives you a little bit more fun. You know, I’m happy to be 5-0, to have those numbers against Columbus, but on the other hand it’s also like every game is so important. ”
Florida improved to 29-12-5.
“The acquisition of Bennett was huge for us,” Florida’s Anthony Duclair said. “He’s a big forward down the middle. And [Huberdeau] is one of the best players in the League. We’ve built up a little bit of chemistry together and hopefully we can keep that going.”
Columbus has now lost six straight and gained only one point in those games.
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Zac Dalpe were the goal scorers for Columbus.
“We just have to keep motivating ourselves and make sure we don’t just play out the season because of where we are in the standings,” Bjorkstrand said. “We have to continue to play hard every night.”
Bennett scored at 59 seconds of the middle frame and Vatrano scored to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
“I know we only have 15 wins on the season but you have to take some positives out of this,” Dalpe said. “I thought we played hard right to the end. If we can clean up that stretch of the second period, i think we’re in a lot more hockey games.”
After Bjorkstrand cut the lead to 2-1, Radko Gudas struck for Florida to make the score, 3-1.
“We’ve got some new guys, and we just keep building our game,” Bobrovsky said. “Everybody keeps delivering. Everybody brings their energy to the table. And as I say we’ve got some new faces and I think we really improved our team. So it’s just a time of the year where things get tighter and that’s more fun to play.”
Vatrano’s second marker of the night was an empty-net strike in the 14th minute of the third period.
Elvis Merzlikins made 35 save in the loss.
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