Canucks Sprint By Panthers

     Kevin Lankinen chalked up his sixth career shutout as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Florida Panthers 4-0 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night. The Panthers, who had their seven-game point streak snapped, played their second contest in a five-game road swing.

     Vancouver(15-8-5) opened up the scoring at the 2:23 mark of the first period as they capitalized on a giveaway. Max Sasson got to a loose puck in the neutral zone and brought it into the Panthers zone. He made a square pass from the right point and Carson Soucy snapped a shot from the high slot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his first tally of the year. 

     It became 2-0 for the Canucks with 1:19 left in the first. Teddy Blueger handed the puck off to Danton Heinen outside of the Panthers blue line. He angled a pass from the top of the zone to Sasson above the top right circle. Sasson sent a forehand shot from the right-circle dot and Heinen deflected it in from the top of the crease for his fourth goal this season. 

     In the second period, Vancouver made it 3-0 at 4:53. Quinn Hughes carried around his own net and all the way to the neutral zone. He zipped an outlet pass to J.T. Miller and he centered the puck from the top left circle. Brock Boeser shot the puck from the high slot and it went off the end half-wall. He got to the rebound and placed in a wrist shot from the left goal line for his eighth goal of the 2024-25 campaign.      

     Florida(18-10-2) surrendered a power-play goal with 7:05 remaining in the third period. Miller connected a pass from the left circle to Hughes at the top of the zone. His shot was redirected in by Jake DeBrusk from the crease area for his 14th goal of the season.