Florida Panthers Display One of their Best Performances of the Season

It hasn’t been fruitful in Pantherland as of late, but the Florida Panthers came out to play against the Wild and displayed one of their best performances of the season.

For those of you who watched tonight’s game, you chose the perfect game to watch. Better yet, if you were in attendance, you certainly chose the right game to go out and see.

From the very beginning, the Florida Panthers came out with all they had, which Minnesota couldn’t counter.

Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau each worked their magic early, as No. 11 put the Panthers on the scoreboard early on.

Aaron Ekblad pulled off a beautiful move and roofed a backhand top shelf. Only problem? The play was offside – with Huberdeau stepping into the zone a stride early during the lead-up play.

But, the Cats never stopped pushing and they were eventually rewarded for their efforts. MacKenzie Weegar threw a shot on goal from the point which deflected off a Wild defenseman and in.

Not long after, Weegar tallied his second of the night, tripling the Panthers’ lead. This one was an absolute beauty as Weegar stepped into a pass and fired a shot into the bottom corner.

In just a span of twenty minutes, the Cats were up by three goals. The Wild couldn’t believe what they were seeing and had no choice but relieve goaltender Devan Dubnyk for allowing three goals on seven shots.

Think the Panthers were done there? Think again! Mike Hoffman unleashed an absolute rocket from the side on the man advantage, extending Florida’s lead to four.

The Wild found their first of the night through forward J.T. Brown, which came from a deflection out in front.

But none of that mattered, really, as the Panthers never looked back once and left the Wild stranded in their own dust.

Defenseman Mike Matheson would join the party with fellow D-man MacKenzie Weegar, grabbing a pair of goals for himself in the second and third.

Aleksander Barkov also had a goal disallowed during the end of the second period; his shot couldn’t quite beat the buzzer, coming a split second after the period expired.

Marcus Foligno would add a second for the visitors, but it proved worthless as the Florida Panthers went on to win by a score of 6-2.

Some huge performances from a few Panthers: forward Aleksander Barkov finished the game with five points (5A), setting a franchise record for most assists in one game.

Joining him is his buddy Jonathan Huberdeau, who also had a night of his own. Huberdeau finished the game off with four points (1G & 3A).

As well, linemate Evgeni Dadonov concluded with three points (3A). Among others, defensemen Mike Matheson and MacKenzie Weegar each had a pair of goals, combining for four out of the six goals scored tonight.

Best of all, youngster Sam Montembeault made 25 saves and went on to record his first career NHL win as a member of the Florida Panthers.

All in all, it was a solid night all around and the Panthers displayed a full sixty-minute effort, something we haven’t seen much of this year.

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