RECAP: Panthers 5, Ducks 2

ANAHEIM – The Florida Panthers spread the offensive wealth around en route to a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks in the first stop of their West Coast road trip at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Improving to 28-17-3, Florida swept its home-and-home series with Anaheim.

In the win, five different Panthers scored a goal and 11 recorded at least one point.

“It’s good because we haven’t been scoring,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “No matter what, players want to score goals. It makes you feel good. Everybody that gets a point tonight gets to leave the rink with a win and a point and they have a smile on their face.”

Earning an early trip to the power play, the Ducks opened the scoring when Frank Vatrano blasted a shot from the slot past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 4:57 of the first period.

With the top line showing off some burgeoning chemistry, the Panthers pulled even when Sam Reinhart took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk, cut to the net and lifted a shot over Lukas Dostal to make it 1-1 at 8:58 with his team-leading 28^th goal.

From the first line to the fourth line, the Panthers took the lead when Evan Rodrigues pounced on his own rebound and sent a shot toward Anaheim’s net from a sharp angle that caught a piece of Dostal before sliding into the cage to make it 2-1 at 17:57.

Less than a minute later, Carter Verhaeghe picked a corner to make it 3-1 at 18:49.

Keeping the puck for himself on a 2-on-1 rush, Mason McTavish got the Ducks’ deficit back to just one goal before the intermission when he buried a sizzling shot to make it 3-2 at 19:12.

An eventful opening 20 minutes, the two teams combined for 27 shots on goal.

In the second period, the goals were harder to come by.

Despite three trips to the power play for the Panthers – including 43 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage – the Ducks managed to hold down the fort on the penalty kill.

Coming out hot to start the third period, the Panthers doubled their lead when Sam Bennett took a feed from Mackie Samoskevich and rifled a shot past Dostal from the slot to make it 4-2 just 19 seconds after the puck had dropped.

“He’s been awesome,” Bennett said of teaming up with Samoskevich. “I really like playing with him. He’s got a lot of jump in his game and a lot of confidence. I think the more we play together, the more we’re going to build that chemistry."

Picking up a screen in front of the net, Uvis Balinskis fired a shot toward the twine and past a blinded Dostal to extend Florida’s lead to 5-2 at 4:17.

“A good job by Nosy (Tomas Nosek),” Balinskis said of the screen that that paved the way for his strike. “Just had to get it past the goaltender, and that’s it. … That was big. We kind of changed our game a bit in the third period and started a bit different. That made us win.”

Steady between the pipes, Bobrovsky finished with 28 saves.

Over the second and third periods, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stopped all 18 shots he faced.

“He was great,” Bennett said of his veteran netminder. “As always, he’s steady. He made some big saves when we need them, and that’s all we can ask for.”

THEY SAID IT

“It’s always nice to get (a goal), especially when you haven’t scored for a while. It’s a good feeling. Sometimes you feel one is never going to go in, but you have to be patient. Our line was getting lots of looks.” – Sam Bennett

“It’s pretty cool that everybody had a chance to score. It’s nice that everybody is producing.” – Uvis Balinskis

“We like the way that we made it 4-2, a forecheck that was more like our game. I think we had 10 hits through the first two periods. That’s not really like our game. Then I really liked our neutral-zone defense in the third.” – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- The Panthers scored three goals in the first period for the fourth time this season.

- Aleksander Barkov recorded the 750^th point of his career.

- Sam Bennett won 10 faceoffs.

- Anton Lundell and Jesper Boqvist each had three hits.

- Evan Rodrigues blocked a team-high three shots.

- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 27 shots at even strength.

WHAT’S NEXT?

No rest for these Cats.

Closing the book on their first of two back-to-backs on this road trip, the Panthers will face-off against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, click HERE.