Panthers Outscore Oilers

     Vincent Trocheck compiled his first career hat trick as the Florida Panthers began a five-game Canadian road trip with a 7-5 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Monday night. The Panthers have won five of their last six games while the Oilers have lost four straight. James Reimer made his first appearance in a game for Florida since January 23.
     In the first period, Florida(24-23-6) scored on the power play with 2:14 left. It was a similar setup as they had against the Los Angeles Kings last Friday at home. A Denis Malgin wrist shot from the top right circle went wide and off the end wall. Aaron Ekblad followed with a one-time shot from below the left circle for his 12th goal of the year.
     It took less than one minute for Edmonton(23-28-4) to match it. Connor McDavid dropped a pass at the blue line and Yohann Auvitu snapped a shot from the right point that Reimer stopped. Patrick Maroon was at the top of crease and put in a backhand shot on the rebound with 1:25 to go.
     The Oilers moved ahead 2-1 at the 2:46 mark. Leon Draisaitl was awarded a penalty shot and he scored his 16th goal of the season.
     The Panthers evened the contest at 6:21. Malgin put in a tally on assists from Michael Matheson and Mark Pysyk.
     Both clubs got goals near the midway point. Edmonton regained the lead 3-2 at 9:35. Kris Russell connected on a slap shot from the top of the zone and it was redirected by Drake Caggiula from the inner right circle.
     The Cats answered back just 22 seconds later to tie it up. Nick Bjugstad backhanded the puck out of the Panthers zone. Evgenii Dadonov carried it all the way into the Oilers zone and scored on a snap shot from the high slot by Cam Talbot. Dadonov, who collected his 12th goal, was playing in his 100th NHL game.
     Florida converted on a power play 18 seconds into the third period and led 4-3. Keith Yandle brought the puck into the neutral zone and sent a diagonal pass to Trocheck at the Oilers blue line. He skated through the slot on a 1-on-1 breakaway and finished with a forehand shot.
     Trocheck nailed his second power-play goal in the contest at the 6:05 mark for a Florida two-goal margin. Yandle made a short pass from the blue line to Trocheck above the right circle and he connected on a wrist shot.
     Edmonton did not give up and closed the gap to 5-4 at 6:53. Mark Letestu zipped a lead pass center ice to Anton Slepyshev on the left wing and he scored from the low left circle.
     Dadonov was given a penalty shot when he was hooked on a breakaway with 9:14 remaining in the third. He gave the Panthers a 6-4 lead on his second goal of the game.
     The Oilers answered back to cut the deficit to 6-5 with 5:02 left. Maroon intercepted a Pysyk clearing pass and one-handed the puck from the right corner to the low slot. McDavid put in a one-time slap shot for his 23rd goal of the season.
     Trocheck completed a hat trick with 59.6 seconds to go. Jonathan Huberdeau stole the puck in the neutral zone and sent a rink-wide pass to Trocheck on the left wing. He delayed and released a shot into an empty net for his third goal of the game and 21st of the season.