Panthers Shake Down Sharks

     The Florida Panthers breezed by the San Jose Sharks 5-1 at BB&T Center on Sunday. It was the fourth contest of a franchise record nine-game home stand for the Cats. The Sharks are winless in their last four games.
     Florida(15-9-5) scored on their first power-play attempt at 4:31 of the first period. Alekander Barkov pushed the puck from the left corner to Jonathan Hubedeau and he backhanded a pass from the left-wing wall to Keith Yandle on the left point. His slap shot went past Martin Jones for his third goal of the campaign. Yandle extended his point streak to five games.
     The Panthers made it 2-0 at the 8:15 mark. Huberdeau cleared the puck out of the zone. Evgenii Dadonov carried it through the neutral zone and toward the top right circle. He angled a pass to his left and Barkov swept in a forehand shot from the left circle for his 10th goal of the season. Barkov tied Stephen Weiss for fourth place in Florida Panthers franchise history with his 145th career goal. Huberdeau passed Weiss for second place in club history with his 395th point on that play.
     The 0-for-23 drought for the San Jose(15-15-2) power-play unit finally ended with 9:47 left in the first. Erik Karlsson passed the puck from the top of the zone to Kevin Lebanc and he released a wrist shot from the top right circle that got by Sergei Bobrovsky. It was the first tally for them with the man advantage in 11 games.
     In the second period, the Cats made it a two-goal gap at 6:32. Frank Vatrano passed it from the low right circle to Aaron Ekblad on the right point and he sent a cross-ice pass. Mike Matheson backpedaled from the left point along the blue line and snapped a shot from the top of the zone for his first goal of the year.
     The Cats added another goal on the power play for a 4-1 lead with 9:41 remaining in the third period. Hoffman sent a wrist shot from the right point which was saved. Brett Connolly pounced on the rebound in the crease and scored his 14th goal of the season. Vatrano made it 5-1 on an empty-net goal with 1:23 to go.