Panthers score franchise-high 7 goals in opening period to rout Canadiens
Florida's Matthew Tkachuk records goal, 3 assists in 9-5 win over Montreal
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida's franchise-record, seven-goal first period and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 on Thursday night.
Florida scored six goals in the second period against Boston on April 5, 2000. Against Montreal, the Panthers came just shy of tying the franchise record for goals in a game set in 1997, going scoreless in the third period.
The teams combined for 10 first-period goals to tie the NHL record for goals in a first period. It also was the fastest first 10 goals in an NHL game, with Florida getting the 10th goal at 13:18.
Aaron Ekblad also scored twice for Florida, helping the Panthers pull within three points of the final wild-card spot. They are 4-0-1 in their last five.
Ekblad, Colin White, Gustav Forsling, Ryan Lomberg and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida as the Panthers led 7-3 after one. Florida padded its lead with goals from Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk in the second period.
WATCH | Panthers' historic 1st period too much for Habs to handle in Florida:
Montreal defenceman Mike Matheson scored 16 seconds in, and Florida led 2-1 just over three minutes later.
"If you came 30 minutes late, you missed it," said Tkachuk, who also added three assists. "Hope people did not get stuck in traffic. We definitely have some things to clean up but a win is a win. We did score a ton of goals, so we did a lot of good things as well."
Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves for Florida.
Montreal replaced goalie Sam Montembeault after Florida scored three goals on its first six shots of the game. Jake Allen came in and ended up giving up six goals on 17 shots before Montreal brought back Montembeault to finish the game.
"Big win and one of the wildest games I have ever been a part of," Verhaeghe said. "We found a way and it turned out to be a good one."
