It was the type of performance the Florida Panthers needed, one that has eluded the team for the better part of the past three weeks.
A dominant effort from the start. No letdown late. Solid work in net. And, above all, a win.
The Panthers scored three times in 59 seconds late in the first period and never looked back in their 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks to snap a three-game losing streak and pick up their first win three games into their current five-game road trip.
Florida improves to 11-9-4 on the season and won for just the second time in their past eight games, although they have picked up points in five of those eight games.
Vancouver falls to 9-12-3. Matthew Tkachuk began the scoring spree with a backhanded shot with 1:56 left in the opening period after taking a feed in the slot from defenseman Josh Mahura. Gustav Forsling scored 35 seconds after that with a slap shot from the left circle to put Florida up 2-0.
And 24 seconds after that, Ryan Lomberg put Florida up 3-0 when he poked the puck past Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko after stops made on scoring attempts by Patric Hornqvist and Eric Staal.
Demko left with an injury after Lomberg’s goal. The three goals in under a minute marked the fastest three goals in franchise history, beating the previous mark of 1:02 against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 18, 2009.
It was also the first time this season a team scored three goals in under a minute span. Sam Bennett scored the Panthers’ remaining two goals.
He pushed Florida’s lead to 4-0 with 8:22 left in the second period on passes from Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe and then made it 5-1 with 8:49 left in regulation on a feed from Tkachuk in front of the net.
Overall, the Panthers finished the game with a 36-20 edge in scoring chances, including an 18-7 mark in high-danger chances.
Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight stopped 32 of 33 shots against him on Thursday, including all 17 shots that came his way in the third period, to improve to 7-3-3 on the season and pick up his 30th career NHL win.
Knight got to the 30-win mark in just 48 games, which is the fewest games in franchise history to get to that mark. The previous record was 61 by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Knight is 30-12-6 in his young NHL career. The only goal Knight allowed was by Dakota Joshua with 7:34 left in the second period on an odd-man rush.
—LUNDELL INJURED
Panthers forward Anton Lundell left Thursday’s game twice with an undisclosed injury. The second-year center played four shifts over the first eight minutes of the first period before heading to the dressing room for the first time.
He returned to the ice to start the second period but lasted just two shifts before leaving the game for good.
Overall, Lundell was on the ice for just 3:55. Eetu Luostarinen led all Florida forwards in ice time with a career-high 21:01, including 1:47 on the power play and 3:13 on the penalty kill.
—THIS AND THAT
—With a goal and two assists, Tkachuk has logged multiple points in 11 of 22 games he has played this season. On the season, Tkachuk has 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists).
—Hornqvist played in his 900th career NHL game on Thursday, the last 130 of which with the Panthers over the past three seasons.
—Staal logged his first point with the Panthers on Thursday with a secondary assist on Ryan Lomberg’s first-period goal.
