Panthers Pepper Predators

     The Florida Panthers began a five-game road trip with a 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday. The Panthers scored a season-high seven goals in a game. Vincent Trocheck played in his 200th NHL game.
     Jaromir Jagr scored his 10th goal of the season and compiled his 1,899th NHL point at 4:24 of the first period for Florida(24-20-10). Keith Yandle was credited with the primary assist and Jonathan Huberdeau got his first assist of the year.
     Nashville(26-21-8) evened it up 1-1 on the power play at 9:19. The Cats won the face-off in their own zone and tried to clear it out. Roman Jossi fired a slapshot from the blue line by Roberto Luongo for an unassisted goal.
     The Panthers made it 2-1 on their first power play in the contest at 5:52 of the second period. Reilly Smith connected a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone to Trocheck on the right side. He dashed into the right circle and dropped a pass across the slot to Jussi Jokinen where he snapped a shot by Pekka Rinne.
     The Predators once again tied it up at 6:56. Ryan Ellis released a wrist shot from the right point which was redirected in by Filip Forsberg from the slot area.
     The Cats responded with a quick tally 29 seconds later to regain the lead. Michael Sgarbossa carried the puck into the Nashville zone. Nick Bjugstad received it, went through the left circle and backhanded home a shot.
     Florida scored again at the 7:53 mark as Trocheck came in on a breakaway and snapped in a shot from the low slot. Rinne was pulled from net by the Predators and replaced by Juuse Saros.
     The avalanche continued as the Panthers scored their fourth goal in a 3:57 span. Aleksander Barkov won a face-off in the right circle went by one defender and put in a power-play goal at 9:53.
     The Preds cut the deficit on a shorthanded goal with 2:59 remaining in the second. Florida committed a turnover at center ice. Ryan Ellis streaked down the right side, zipped a cross-ice pass and Viktor Ardvisson blasted a one-time slapshot.
     In the third period, Huberdeau put in a high snap shot from the right circle off a feed by Michael Matheson from the right wing at 2:30 for his second tally this year.