Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers

· National Hockey League

Vancouver Canucks

9-10-2

Final
5 - 8

Florida Panthers

10-8-1

Bennett keys Panthers' three-goal third period in 8-5 win over Canucks

Vancouver Canucks vs. Florida Panthers: Game Highlights

Seth Jones had two goals, and Luke Kunin, Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, A.J. Greer and Brad Marchand also scored for the two-time defending champion Panthers, who had a season-high scoring total for their third win in four games. Sam Reinhart had three assists and Carter Verhaeghe two. Sergei Bobrovsky had 10 saves.

Elias Pettersson had two goals, and Drew O'Connor and Jake DeBrusk also scored for Vancouver, which has lost four of five (1-2-2). Quinn Hughes had three assists and Kiefer Sherwood and Evander Kane each added two, and Jiri Patera finished with 33 saves.

Bennett deflected a slap shot by Niko Mikkola to put the Panthers ahead 6-5 early in the third.

Jones then got his second of the night at 8:19, beating Patera from in front on a power play for a two-goal lead, and Marchand's short-handed empty-netter with 1:46 remaining capped the scoring.

Pettersson scored at 7:55 of the second and again at 1:24 of the third to pull the Canucks within one. Hronek's power-play goal at 3:14 tied the score 5-5.

Trailing by two late in the first period, the Panthers scored five consecutive goals to take the lead.

Just 36 seconds after DeBrusk put the Canucks ahead 2-0, Greer finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Bennett and Verhaeghe to get Florida on the scoreboard with 4:10 remaining in the opening period.

Jones beat Patera from the right circle on a rush with just under 8 seconds remaining in the first to tie the score.

Kunin, Rodrigues and Lundell scored in a 4:54 stretch of the second period to give the Panthers a 5-2 lead.

Kunin scored into an open net on a rebound at 2:23 to put Florida ahead, Rodrigues made it 4-2 from in front off a no-look, backward pass from behind the net by Reinhart at 6:10, and Lundell made it a three-goal lead with a tally from the right circle at 7:17.

Up next

Canucks: Host Dallas on Thursday night.

Panthers: Host New Jersey on Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

FLA leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 14:50	Drew O'Connor Goal (6) Wrist Shot, assists: Tyler Myers (5), Quinn Hughes (17)
Goal	1st Period 15:14	Jake DeBrusk Goal (8) Snap Shot, assists: Kiefer Sherwood (2), Quinn Hughes (18)
Goal	1st Period 15:50	A.J. Greer Goal (4) Snap Shot, assists: Carter Verhaeghe (7), Sam Bennett (3)
Goal	1st Period 19:52	Seth Jones Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Sam Reinhart (4), Sergei Bobrovsky (1)
Goal	2nd Period 2:23	Luke Kunin Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Noah Gregor (1), Gustav Forsling (9)
Goal	2nd Period 6:10	Evan Rodrigues Goal (5) Snap Shot, assists: Sam Reinhart (5), Jesper Boqvist (2)
Goal	2nd Period 7:17	Anton Lundell Goal (5) Snap Shot, assists: Brad Marchand (10), Aaron Ekblad (4)
Goal	2nd Period 7:55	Elias Pettersson Goal (5) Wrist Shot, assists: Evander Kane (7), Quinn Hughes (19)
Goal	3rd Period 1:24	Elias Pettersson Goal (6) Backhand, assists: Kiefer Sherwood (3), Tom Willander (3)
Goal	3rd Period 3:14	Filip Hronek Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Max Sasson (1), Evander Kane (8)
Goal	3rd Period 4:02	Sam Bennett Goal (4) Tip-In, assists: Niko Mikkola (4), Uvis Balinskis (1)
Goal	3rd Period 8:19	Seth Jones Goal (3) Snap Shot, assists: Sam Reinhart (6), Carter Verhaeghe (8)
Goal	3rd Period 18:14	Brad Marchand Goal (13) Wrist Shot, assists: none

Statistics

VAN		FLA
15	Blocked Shots	20
13	Hits	24
2	Takeaways	4
15	Shots	41
2	Power Play Goals	2
6	Power Play Opportunities	6
33.3	Power Play Percentage	33.3
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
36	Faceoffs Won	33
52.2	Faceoff Win Percent	47.8
10	Giveaways	10
9	Total Penalties	9
18	Penalty Minutes	18

Florida Panthers Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Cole Schwindt, C	Injured Reserve	Dec 2
Eetu Luostarinen, C	Out	Dec 1
Matthew Tkachuk, LW	Injured Reserve	Nov 26

Vancouver Canucks Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Conor Garland, RW	Out	Dec 1
Nikita Tolopilo, G	Injured Reserve	Dec 1
Nils Hoglander, LW	Injured Reserve	Dec 1
Thatcher Demko, G	Injured Reserve	Dec 1
Derek Forbort, D	Injured Reserve	Oct 28