Sam Bennett collected his second career hat trick as the Florida Panthers walloped the Dallas Stars 7-1 at FLA Live Arena on Friday night. Both clubs just faced each other eight days ago in Dallas.
The Panthers have an eight-game point streak with a 7-0-1 record and improved to 20-3-0 in Sunrise this season. The Stars have lost six straight road games and are 4-11-1 away from home in 2021-22.
Florida(25-7-5) took a 1-0 lead at the 3:07 mark of the first period. Jonathan Huberdeau angled a pass to his right from the high slot area. Sam Bennett quickly released the puck from the low right circle and Gustav Forsling tapped the puck in from the left edge of the blue paint for his first goal of the year. It was the seventh consecutive contest that the Panthers got on the scoreboard first.
The Panthers made it 2-0 at 8:50 of the first. Huberdeau sent a lead pass from the top of the zone to Anthony Duclair at the inner right circle and he put in a forehand shot from the top of the crease by Jake Oettinger for his 15th goal of the season.
In the second period, the Cats scored twice in 30-second stretch. Brandon Montour dropped it at the right point for Carter Verhaeghe and he left it for Aleksander Barkov. He performed a give-and-go pass and Verhaeghe snapped a shot from the slot for his 11th goal of the campaign for a 3-0 lead at 5:33.
It became a four-goal margin for Florida at the 6:03 mark of the period. John Klingberg gave the puck up to Duclair on the end wall. He circled around the Stars cage and centered it. Huberdeau one-timed a shot from the top of the crease for his third point of the contest. Oettinger was replaced in net by Anton Khudobin.
The Cats expanded it to a five-goal gap on a power-play tally with 7:23 left in the second. Montour connected a pass from the right point to the top right circle. Bennett fired a wrist shot from the high slot for the goal. He added his 13th goal this season with 4:30 left and the Panthers had a 6-0 lead.
Dallas(18-4-2) finally broke the shutout just 1:06 into the third period. Esa Lindell sent a long lead pass from his own zone to the Panthers blue line. Roope Hintz skated through the left circle and buried a backhand shot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 15th goal for them.
Bennett would get the hat trick with 4:06 remaining in the third. Huberdeau passed from the right point to the middle. Bennett and Duclair pulled off a give-and-go play and Bennett would score from the left of the crease. He is the eighth Panthers player to have multiple hat tricks in a single season.
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