Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) and Vancouver Canucks left wing Andrei Kuzmenko (96) battle for the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, in Sunrise, Fla.Wilfredo Lee/The Associated Press
Andrei Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson each scored a goal and an assist, leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday night.
Quinn Hughes, Carson Soucy and Brock Boeser also scored for the Canucks, who avoided a third straight loss. J.T. Miller had two assists and Casey DeSmith made 34 saves for his second victory of the season.
Sam Reinhart scored twice and Aleksander Barkov had the other goal for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
Hughes opened the scoring on the power play at 11:09 of the first period as his point shot beat a screened Bobrovsky. Miller and Pettersson picked up the assists on Hughes’ first of the season.
Barkov responded 20 seconds later, beating DeSmith with a backhand deke on a partial break for his first of the season.
Soucy gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 10:40 of the second period when his wrist shot got past Bobrovsky blocker-side on a power play for his first of the season.
Pettersson made it 3-1, beating Bobrovsky off a no-look feed from Kuzmenko at 11:15 of the middle period. Pettersson now has two goals and eight assists in five games.
Ilya Mikheyev, activated from injured reserve on Saturday, picked up the second assist on the goal. The Canucks forward hasn’t played since Jan. 27 due to an ACL injury.
Reinhart pulled Florida to within one at 6:10 of the third period. DeSmith made the original save off Evan Rodrigues’ shot, but Reinhart was there to put home the rebound.
The Panthers’ forward tied the game 3-3 at 14:01 of the third, beating DeSmith five-hole for his second of the night and his team-leading sixth goal in five games.
Kuzmenko restored the Canucks’ lead, showing excellent patience and getting his shot past a sprawling Bobrovsky for his second of the season at 15:03 of the third. It was Kuzmenko’s first career goal against the Panthers.
Boeser added an empty-net goal with 2:10 remaining in the third for his team-leading sixth goal. The Canucks forward has five goals in 11 games against the Panthers.