Panthers Outlast Ducks

     The Florida Panthers roared by the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 at Honda Center on Wednesday night. It was the second game of a five-game road trip for the Panthers.
     Anaheim(24-29-7) waited to late in the first period to go up 1-0 with 3:56 remaining. Adam Henrique sent a long lead pass from his own zone and it was touched by Rickard Rickell  and Keith Yandle in the high slot. Max Jones recovered and scored on a wrist shot from above the right circle past Sergei Bobrovsky.
     Florida(32-22-6) escaped the end of the first frame tied at 1-1 as they got a tally with 4.1 seconds to go. Jonathan Hubedeau knocked down the puck at the red line, carried it all the way to the right circle and backhanded a cross-ice pass. Aleksander Barkov tapped it in from the left of the crease for his 18th goal of the season.
     In the second period, the Panthers scored on consecutive shots 3:36 apart. They took their first lead 2-1 on the power play at the 10:50 mark. Frank Vatrano made a square pass to his left from the top right circle and Riley Stillman sailed a slap shot off the back glass. Vincent Trocheck batted the puck out of the air and into the Anaheim cage from the right of the crease by John Gibson for his 10th goal of the campaign.
     The Cats extended it to a two-goal margin with 5:34 left in the period. MacKenzie Weegar fed a pass from the left point to Aaron Ekblad on the right point. His slap shot went wide right of the net and bounced off the back wall. Aleksi Saarela fired a one-time slap shot from low left circle for his first NHL goal. Ekblad compiled his sixth assist in the last six contests.
     The Ducks decided to pull their goalie and add an additional attacker with over three minutes to go in the third period. Weegar slapped the puck from the top of the zone into the empty net with 2:09 left.