Florida Panthers
Shut Down & Out: Vancouver Canucks 4, Florida Panthers 0
On a night in which the Vancouver Canucks honored Roberto Luongo, the offense of the Florida Panthers took the night off.
Again.
After being shutout Tuesday in Seattle, the Panthers were again held without a goal — this time by Thatcher Demko — as the Canucks rolled to a 4-0 win.
Florida has been shutout in its past two games and has been outscored 8-0 since leaving Columbus on Sunday evening.
The Panthers, who have been blanked four times this season, had not been shutout in consecutive games since 2011.
The Canucks took advantage of numerous Florida miscues to take control early.
First, Ryan Lomberg turned over the puck leading to Andrei Kuzmenko breaking the ice at 4:03.
Then, Oliver Ekman-Larsson failed to clear a puck out of the corner with Dakota Joshua getting his first of two.
In the third, Sergei Bobrovsky inadvertently put the puck right on the stick of Joshua midway through the second to make it 3-0.
Vancouver swept the two-game season series after winning in Sunrise on Oct. 21.
— The Panthers played Thursday without center Anton Lundell due to illness and pulled Jonah Gadjovich — also due to illness — following warmups.
Florida went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
— Bobrovsky ended up giving up 4 goals on 17 shots and was replaced by Anthony Stolarz to start the third.
— Aaron Ekblad did not play in the third period due to a lower body injury coach Paul Maurice said he did not think was serious.
GOALS OF THE GAME
- Canucks 1, Panthers 0 (4:03, 1st): Conor Garland strips the puck from Ryan Lomberg, feeds Andrei Kuzmenko who rolls in and beats Sergei Bobrovsky.
- Canucks 2, Panthers 0 (13:52, 1st): Oliver Ekman-Larsson fails to clear the puck deep in the Florida zone and Dakota Joshua gets his first of the night by scoring off his own rebound.
- Canucks 3, Panthers 0 (10:08, 2nd): Bobrovsky comes out to play the puck and sends it straight on the stick of Joshua who gets his second in very simple fashion.
- Canucks 4, Panthers 0 (15:41, 2nd PP): With both Brandon Montour and Kevin Stenlund in the box, Florida gives up the 5-on-3 goal as Brock Boeser gets No. 22 by cleaning up a puck around the net.
GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
1. Thatcher Demko (36 saves, SO), Vancouver
2. Dakota Joshua (2 goals), Vancouver
3. Andrei Kuzmenko (goal), Vancouver
ON DECK
FLORIDA PANTHERS @ EDMONTON OILERS
- When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
- Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
- TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
- Radio: WAXY 790-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- This Season (Florida Leads 1-0) — At Florida: Panthers 5, Oilers 3 (Nov. 20). At Edmonton: Saturday.
- Last Season: Edmonton won 2-0
- All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-15-0, 3 ties