Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
NHL

Panthers score franchise-high 7 goals in opening period to rout Canadiens

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's Matthew Tkachuk records goal, 3 assists in 9-5 win over Montreal

George Richards · The Associated Press ·
A player attempts to tip a shot past a goalie down in a butterfly.
Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, right, attempts to tip the puck past Montreal Canadiens goalie Jake Allen during a 9-5 victory in Sunrise, Fla., on Thursday. (Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

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.

"I have never seen anything like that. In 25 years, never seen that many goals," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "There were more goals than chances to score and that is a rarity. All I can say is it affected the game for both teams and I do not think anything on video is useful to the game of hockey. It was almost Twilight Zone: Every puck went in."

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."

Michael Pezzetta, Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard and Rafael Harvey-Pinard also scored for Montreal.

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."

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC Sports
Corrections and clarifications|

Related Stories

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you.

Sign up now

Comments

To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.

By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

Become a CBC Account Holder

Join the conversation  Create account

Already have an account?

now