Verhaeghe scores twice, Panthers ease past Oilers

EDMONTON -- Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists, and Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (18-10-2), who were shut out in each of their previous two games.

“You’re not beating these guys on home ice unless you get a goaltending performance like that,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “He was quick and as dynamic and explosive as he was in the crease, he was also incredibly calm.

“You could feel it from the bench; he wasn’t getting beat tonight. We needed that, we needed our ‘A’ guys to step up and be great.”

Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 12 games with an assist, and Zach Hyman scored for the Oilers (13-14-1), who lost the last two of a six-game homestand after an eight-game winning streak. Calvin Pickard made 34 saves.

“I don't think we defended well enough. I don't think there was enough urgency to protect the slots,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We made some mistakes, and they forced us into doing that and that's going to be part of hockey. But I just didn't like how we reacted to those.

“We just need to get a little more urgency playing defensive hockey. When things are going well, you often forget about those details of what made you successful. We just need to get back playing a little bit better defensive hockey.”

Verhaeghe gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 5:33 of the first period when he cut toward the net and buried a feed from Bennett.

It was the Panthers’ first goal in 126:34.

“We’re a resilient team and I think we came out the right way, and it was nice to get the first couple of goals of the game. It started us off on the right foot,” Verhaeghe said. “We believe in ourselves, and it was nice to get the win.

“Anytime you don’t score in two games it [stinks], so it was nice to see the puck go in the net. We made a couple of nice plays and then made a couple of more. It was nice.”

Montour made it 2-0 at 18:58, firing Verhaeghe’s feed in the slot past Pickard for his first goal of the season.

Aleksander Barkov scored 29 seconds later at 19:27, knocking in a rebound in front to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

“Obviously a sloppy game for us, especially at the end of the first,” Hyman said. “It’s 1-0 and we give up two in the last two minutes on plays that we can control, getting outnumbered at the net, just not defending the way we have been. It’s a tough one.

“It’s one game. We’ve played some really good hockey of late. You never want to play a bad game, but it happens. It’s on us to make sure it doesn’t happen again. You have to nip it in the bud quick and get back to playing the way we’ve shown we can.”

Hyman cut it to 3-1 at 8:08 of the second period when he took a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and scored on a backhand.

McDavid had the secondary assist to extend his point streak (28 points; seven goals, 21 assists). He also set an NHL career high by getting an assist for the 11th straight game.

Bennett made it 4-1 on a power play at 16:01, driving past Edmonton forward Mattias Janmark on the left wing, cutting to the net and scoring on a backhand. Bobrovsky had the secondary assist.

Verhaeghe scored his second of the game just 21 seconds into the third period when he finished an odd-man rush with a wrist shot from the right circle for the 5-1 final.

Bobrovsky preserved the four-goal lead when he stopped Sam Gagner on a penalty shot at 4:21 of the third.

“It was a good game against a dangerous opponent,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s fun to play those games against the really good offensive teams, so I was involved in the game, It was fun.”

NOTES: Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard had his point streak end at 13 games (20 points; five goals, 15 assists). … Edmonton forward Derek Ryan did not play in the third period after colliding with Florida forward Kevin Stenlund. Knoblauch said he doesn’t expect it to be a long-term injury. … Verhaghe, Bennett and Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk were each plus-3. Verhaeghe has 99 goals since joining Florida in 2020-21 and is tied with Barkov for the team lead over that span. … Barkov had seven shots on goal.