Bennett has hat trick, assist for Panthers in victory against Stars

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Sam Bennett had a hat trick and an assist for the Florida Panthers in a 7-1 win against the Dallas Stars at FLA Live Arena on Friday.

It was the second hat trick of the season and third in the NHL for Bennett, who had one Oct. 16 in a 5-1 win against the New York Islanders.
"Sometimes it's just your night," Bennett said. "You've got to take advantage of those nights because they don't happen too often, but tonight was one of those nights, for sure."

Jonathan Huberdeau extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and three assists, and Anthony Duclair had a goal and two assists for the Panthers (25-7-5), who lead the NHL with 20 home wins (20-3-0). Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.
The Huberdeau-Bennett-Duclair line scored 11 points (five goals, six assists).
"'Benny', 'Huby' and 'Duke,' they're really feeling it right now," Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. "They've got a lot of chemistry together."
Roope Hintz scored for the Stars (18-14-2), who had won five of six. Jake Oettinger allowed four goals on 17 shots and was pulled at 6:03 of the second period. Anton Khudobin made 19 saves in relief. Dallas is 4-11-1 on the road.
"It's confidence," Stars forward Radek Faksa said. "We don't make plays like we make them at home. I don't know what to say."
Gustav Forsling gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 3:07 of the first period with his first goal of the season when the defenseman tapped in Bennett's pass to finish a three-way passing play that began with Huberdeau.
"I was really happy to see that," Brunette said. "He's had so many good looks and he's such an important part of our team. Beautiful goal. Tic-tac-toe. Really happy. Great play by [Huberdeau] and [Bennett]. Ecstatic that [Forsling] finally got rewarded."

Duclair made it 2-0 at 8:50 with a shot in close after taking a pass from Huberdeau.
Carter Verhaeghe made it 3-0 at 5:33 of he second period with a wrist shot from the slot before Huberdeau increased the lead to 4-0 at 6:03 when he one-timed Duclair's pass from behind the net.
Bennett's power-play goal made it 5-0 at 12:37, and he pushed the lead to 6-0 at 15:30 off a Dallas turnover deep in its zone.
"It was a lot of fun," Bennett said. "Our whole team was on our game tonight right from the start. We were playing well, we were playing with energy, we were having fun all night and that's when we're at our best."
Hintz cut it to 6-1 at 1:06 of the third period before Bennett completed his hat trick at 15:54 for the 7-1 final.
"There's a lot [we didn't like]," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "It starts with not being willing to compete."
Florida has scored at least five goals in 14 of its 23 home games.
"Pucks are going in," Verhaeghe said. "There's going to be times when it's not like that, but we're a really good offensive team and it's showing right now."
NOTES: Huberdeau has scored 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his streak and has scored 51 points (14 goals, 37 assists) in 37 games this season. Only Pavel Bure (34 games, 1999-2000) scored 50 points faster in Panthers history. … Florida forward Patric Hornqvist had a game-high seven shots in 13:08 after missing two games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Dallas forwards Jason Robertson (eight games) and Joe Pavelski (seven games) each had his point streak end. … Benn is the third player in Stars history to play 900 games (Mike Modano, 1,459; Neal Broten, 992). … Dallas defenseman Andrej Sekera missed the game after joining forwards Denis Gurianov and Alexander Radulov and goalie Braden Holtby in protocol. … Each team was playing the first of a back-to-back. Dallas is at the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida plays the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.