Florida Panthers at San Jose Sharks

· National Hockey League

Florida Panthers

29-18-3

Final
7 - 2

San Jose Sharks

14-32-6

Aaron Ekblad scores in return from injury in the Panthers' 7-2 victory over the Sharks

Florida Panthers vs. San Jose Sharks: Game Highlights

Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, and Nate Schmidt, Sam Bennett, A.J. Greer, Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves.

Florida outscored San Jose 4-0 in the second period, extending a 3-2 lead into a blowout.

Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks. They have lost six straight and 10 of 11.

Greer put the Panthers up 4-2 early in the second, chasing goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who was replaced by Yaroslav Askarov. Tkachuk, Boqvist and Reinhart promptly added goals to give the Panthers a 7-2 lead heading into the third.

The Panthers led 3-2 after the first period with Ekblad, who returned to Florida’s top defensive pairing after missing eight of the last nine games, giving the Panthers the lead.

Takeaways Panthers: The Panthers tied a season high with the seven goals, and responded after scoring just one goal Wednesday night in a loss to the Kings.

Sharks: They have allowed at least five goals in each of the last three games. They've given up the most goals in the NHL this season.

Key moment Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky pulled Georgiev three minutes into the second period, but any hope of a goaltending switch sparking the club from a 4-2 deficit was quickly extinguished when the Panthers scored three times the rest of the period.

Key stat The Panthers had their third four-goal period of the season.

Up next The Panthers are Vegas on Sunday night. The Sharks host Pittsburgh on Monday night.

Regular Season Series

FLA wins series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 5:47	Nate Schmidt Goal (4) Slap Shot, assists: none
Goal	1st Period 6:50	Cody Ceci Goal (4) Tip-In, assists: Jake Walman (22)
Goal	1st Period 7:22	Will Smith Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Mario Ferraro (6), Fabian Zetterlund (18)
Goal	1st Period 14:27	Sam Bennett Goal (15) Deflected, assists: A.J. Greer (7), Niko Mikkola (12)
Goal	1st Period 17:08	Aaron Ekblad Goal (3) Snap Shot, assists: Matthew Tkachuk (28)
Goal	2nd Period 3:01	A.J. Greer Goal (5) Backhand, assists: Tomas Nosek (8)
Goal	2nd Period 5:35	Matthew Tkachuk Goal (15) Tip-In, assists: Aleksander Barkov (29), Aaron Ekblad (19)
Goal	2nd Period 13:07	Jesper Boqvist Goal (12) Wrist Shot, assists: Anton Lundell (21), Carter Verhaeghe (24)
Goal	2nd Period 16:25	Sam Reinhart Goal (29) Backhand, assists: Matthew Tkachuk (29), Aleksander Barkov (30)

Statistics

FLA		SJ
9	Blocked Shots	20
19	Hits	22
2	Takeaways	3
32	Shots	23
1	Power Play Goals	0
2	Power Play Opportunities	1
50.0	Power Play Percentage	0.0
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
29	Faceoffs Won	26
52.7	Faceoff Win Percent	47.3
11	Giveaways	10
1	Total Penalties	2
2	Penalty Minutes	4

San Jose Sharks Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Ryan Reaves, RW	Day-To-Day	Mar 21
Igor Chernyshov, LW	Out	Mar 21
Yaroslav Askarov, G	Out	Mar 21
Vincent Desharnais, D	Out	Mar 21
Tyler Toffoli, C	Out	Mar 21

Florida Panthers Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Anton Lundell, C	Day-To-Day	Mar 21
Mackie Samoskevich, RW	Day-To-Day	Mar 21
Uvis Balinskis, D	Day-To-Day	Mar 21
Sam Reinhart, C	Day-To-Day	Mar 21
Niko Mikkola, D	Out	Mar 20