Sam Bennett’s early third-period goal stood up as the winner, as the Florida Panthers earned a 8-5 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Monday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
Seth Jones (2) A.J. Greer, Luke Kunin, Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand also scored for Florida (10-8-1). Sam Reinhart added three assists and Sergei Bobrovsky made just 10 saves but got the goaltending win.
Elias Pettersson had a pair of goals for the Canucks (9-10-2), with Jake DeBrusk, Drew O’Connor and Filip Hronek adding singles. Captain Quinn Hughes had three assists and Jiri Patera took the loss in goal, allowing seven goals on 40 shots.
The Canucks didn’t get their first shot until nearly 12 minutes into the first period, but still took the lead at 14:50. Bobrovsky thought he had a puck covered in his crease, but O’Connor poked away at it and jammed it home for his sixth goal of the season.
DeBrusk upped the lead to 2-0 just 24 seconds later on a power play, converting a nice cross-crease feed from Kiefer Sherwood for his eighth of the season (seventh on the power play).
The Panthers answered 36 seconds later when the Canucks got mixed up on a line change. Greer took a feed from Carter Verhaege in the deep slot and fired a shot past the blocker of Patera.
With 7.7 seconds left in the period, Jones tied things up, slipped a shot five-hole past Patera from the bottom of the right offensive faceoff circle.
Floria held an 11-5 shots-on-goal advantage after 20 minutes.
Early in the second, Kunin ended a 38-game goal-scoring drought, knocking home a loose puck into an empty net as Patera got tangled in front with Pettersson.
Rodrigues made it 4-2 with a shorthanded marker at 6:10, converitng a nice pass from Reinhart who was followed behind the net by three Canucks.
Lundell upped the Florida margin to 5-2 67 seconds later, taking a pass from Brad Marchand and firing a perfect shot high to the stick side of Patera. Marchand has points in eight straight games.
Just 38 seconds after that, Pettersson cut the deficit to 5-3, finishing off a nice three-way passing play with Hughes and Evander Kane.
HUGHES
KANE
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— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 18, 2025
The Canucks struck first in the third, as Pettersson roofed a backhander over the glove of Bobrovsky 1:24 into the final frame.
Hronek tied things at 5-5 on the power play, scoring his first of the year after taking a cross-crease feed from Max Sasson at 3:14.
Less than a minute later, the Panthers grabbed the lead again, when Mikola’s point shot was tipped in by Bennett.
With Vancouver’s Marcus Pettersson in the penalty box, Jones scored again on the power play at 8:19, sneaking in from the point to the slot and flicking a shot past Patera to make it 7-5.
The Canucks return home Thursday (7 p.m.) to host the Dallas Stars and the Calgary Flames visit Rogers Arena on Sunday (6 p.m.).
The Canucks pulled Patera in favour of an extra attacker with six minutes to go while on a power play but couldn’t convert.
Marchand completed the scoring with his 13th of the year into an empty net with 1:46 to play.
NOTES: Hughes has 10 points in his last three games… Patera was playing his first NHL game since the 2023-24 season with the Vegas Golden Knights… Elias Pettersson has two points in each of his last four outings… Bobrovsky picked up an assist on Jones’s first goal… Both teams were 2-for-6 on the power play.