Devils Surprise Panthers

     The New Jersey Devils shocked the Florida Panthers 7-3 on Tuesday night at Prudential Center. The Panthers, who have lost two straight games, continue to have the most points in the National Hockey League. Aleksander Barkov surpassed Olli Jokinen for the most career goals by a player in Florida Panthers franchise history

     Florida(10-2-1) got out to a 1-0 lead at the 3:53 mark of the opening period. Sam Bennett scored his fifth goal of the season on assists from Owen Tippett and Carter Verhaeghe. 

     New Jersey(6-3-2) compiled two goals in a two-minute span to move ahead 2-1. Andreas Johnsson tied it 1-1 on a power-play goal by Spencer Knight with 4:14 left in the first. It was the Devils first goal on the power play in six games. Nico Hischier gave them a 2-1 edge with 2:15 to go with a shot from close range. 

     There was an explosion of goal scoring early in the second period. Aleksander Barkov put the puck past Mackenzie Blackwood  24 seconds into the frame for his eighth goal of the year. Barkov passed Olli Jokinen with his 189th career goal to become the Florida Panthers all-time leading goal scorer in franchise history. Verhaeghe got the primary assist and Anthony Duclair picked up the secondary assist. 

     The Panthers regained the lead 3-2 at 1:29 of the second. Tippett scored and got his third tally of the 2021-22 campaign. Gustav Forsling and Jonathan Huberdeau were credited with assists on the play. 

     The Devils evened it up 3-3 just 29 seconds later. Johnsson nailed his second goal of the contest and sixth goal this season. 

     New Jersey reclaimed the lead 4-3 with 1:45 left in the second. P.K. Subban ripped a slap shot from the blue line for his first goal of the season. 

     The third period belonged to the Devils. They got a goal on the man advantage from Pavel Zacha at the 4:44 mark. Alexander Holtz collected his first NHL point on the play. It was the first time this season that New Jersey had multi power-play goals in a contest. 

     Ty Smith later scored on a long shot that was deflected in at 5:13 for his first tally of the year. Jimmy Vesey added an empty-net goal with 3:49 left in the third to make it 7-3.