Record Scoring Night Helps Panthers Gain Ground in Playoff Race

Good morning and happy St. Patrick's Day, Friday, March 17th. 🍀🍻

Marc-Andre Fleury ran away with yesterday's poll with 72.7% of voters predicting he would beat Jordan Binnington in a fight. And after finding this tilt from his junior career, it's hard to disagree... MAF can throw 'em!

The Florida Panthers inched closer to a NHL playoff spot during a game that was marked by one of the highest-scoring first periods in league history.

The Panthers took advantage of a seven-goal first period to down the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 Thursday. With the New York Islanders idle and the Pittsburgh Penguins losing to the New York Rangers, the Florida Panthers are now three points out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The seven-goal opening period established a new Panthers’ record for goals in a period. The previous mark was six scored in the second period against the Boston Bruins on April 5, 2000.

Thursday’s game featured Montreal scoring three times for a 10-goal first period. The only other games in NHL history with that many goals in an opening 20 minutes were an Oct. 26, 1982 contest (Buffalo at Montreal) and Jan. 16, 1987 (Calgary at Vancouver). The two teams combined for 10 goals in the first period of those contests.

Nine different players tallied a goal in the Florida-Montreal first period, and that’s only the fifth time in league history that has occurred. 

The goals don’t matter to the Panthers as much as the win. They have work to do if they want to qualify for the playoffs. The Penguins, Islanders and Panthers have all gone 6-3-1 in their past 10 games. 

Matthew Tkachuk led the offensive attack with his third consecutive three-point game. 

Pavel Bure is the only other Florida player with three consecutive games with three or more points. Bure did it from Dec. 17-20, 1999. 

🔥 Tyler Toffoli's four points give Flames first-ever win in Vegas. The 30-year-old Scarborough, Ontario native collected two goals and two assists for his 4th four-point NHL game, leading the Flames with 28 goals and 60 points on the season. Blake Coleman scored twice, including the game-winner, Mackenzie Weegar added a goal and an assist, and Elias Lindholm tallied two assists as Calgary earned their 1st win in Vegas in their 9th attempt. With the win, Calgary moves within three points of the Winnipeg Jet for the final Western Conference wild card spot. 

⚡️ Steven Stamkos' two goals and assist power Lightning over the Devils 4-3. Stamkos scored his 28th of the season with under two minutes remaining in the 2nd and fired home his 29th with a rocket 91 MPH clapper with less than 5 minutes to go in the 3rd. Nikita Kucherov's assist on Stammer's 2nd goal gives him 70 apples on the season for the 2nd time in his career, trailing only McDavid in assists this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy collected 32 saves in regulation plus 2 in the shootout as Alex Killorn and Ross Colton scored in the shootout to seal the Lightning win. The win pulls Tampa within one point of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.

Who is the Tampa Bay Lightning's all-time plus-minus leader?

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With a +161 Victor Hedman is the Tampa Bay Lightning's all-time plus-minus leader... as of today.