*Photo from the Morganton News Herald*
Here comes British Columbia. JT Miller had two assists, Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Florida Panthers with a 5-3 victory on Saturday night in Sunrise.
After starting last season 0-5-2, the Canucks are off to a better 3-2-0 start to this season, snapping a two game losing streak with the win. They won despite blowing a two goal lead in the 3rd period, responding with two goals of their own late in the game.
Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said of the win that "The crowd started getting into it at 3-3, and we have been known over the past couple of years to let leads like that slip away. For us to kind of hold our ground, have confidence and see Casey make some big saves was great. We had guys ready to play and who wanted to win."
It was Hughes who started the scoring in the game. On the power play at the 11:09 mark of the first period, he scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Miller and Elias Pettersson. Just 20 seconds later, Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, making it 1-1 with an unassisted goal.
When the second period rolled around, the Canucks jumped out to a two goal lead. Carson Soucy got it done first, making it 2-1 with a power play goal 10:41 into the period, his first goal of the season. 34 seconds later. Pettersson got on the board, scoring his second goal of the season to make it a 3-1 Canucks lead.
Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet said of Soucy's goal that "In the last 20 seconds I am not a fan of having four forwards out there, so we usually go with two D. He will be in my office asking for PP time now, but that was a great goal."
Sam Reinhart started the scoring in the 3rd period, cutting the deficit to 3-2 with his 5th goal of the season. At the 14:01 mark of the period, Reinhart scored again to tie the game 3-3. A little over a minute later, Kuzmenko found the back of the net for the Canucks, giving them a 4-3 lead. Brock Boeser sealed the win with an empty net goal.
Getting the start in goal for the Canucks was Casey DeSmith, who improved to a perfect 2-0-0 with his new team. DeSmith made 33 saves on 36 shots that the Panthers had, which was good for a .917 save percentage.
Starting opposite DeSmith for the Panthers was Sergei Bobrovsky, currently holding a 2-3-0 record with the loss. Bobrovsky stopped 26 of the 30 shots he was tested with by the Canucks, posting a .867 save percentage.
Reinhart said of the loss that "We were right there. Their first two periods were really solid, and I thought they were heavier in the battle. They were winning the vast majority of the battles. We have been able to flip a switch in games, so I liked that again tonight. But we needed to be more urgent in the battle. Give them credit. They were really solid tonight."
Both teams get back in action on Tuesday night. The Canucks have a road game against the Nashville Predators, with Thatcher Demko expected to start. The Panthers play host to the San Jose Sharks, with Bobrovsky the projected starter.
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