Down South, the host Tampa Bay Lightning were struck by a nine-goal scoring barrage, led by Matthew Tkachuk’s four-point effort.
In the “Great White North,” the visiting Anaheim Ducks were shot down by Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, who collected his sixth hat trick this season and added two assists.
Both NHL games ended Saturday with identical scores of 9-2.
X (Twitter) users reacted to the league’s new scoring trend …
Three games in three days with the same blowout score 🤨
2/15: #TexasHockey 9 – 2 #Preds
2/17: #TimeToHunt 9 – 2 #GoBolts
2/17: #LeafsForever 9 – 2 #FlyTogether— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) February 18, 2024
Panthers 9, Lightning 2
The Panthers extended their road winning streak to 11 games, becoming the sixth team in NHL history to reach that mark …
WHAT A SHOW
🗣️ CATS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/dMj0El4bO2
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 18, 2024
Scoring was a common theme for the Panthers Saturday night, netting nine goals in a game for the first time away from home …
WE. JUST. KEEP. SCORING. pic.twitter.com/hNIMFkSgus
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 18, 2024
A series of Panthers’ skaters registered multi-point efforts …
Multi-point nights 📈
Bennett: 2G, 2A
Forsling: 1G, 1A
Montour: 1G, 2A
Tkachuk: 2G, 2A
Verhaeghe: 2G, 1A#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/ANj6GRmBxu— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 18, 2024
This power trio went beyond double digits in scoring …
11 points between these 3 tonight 🫨 pic.twitter.com/LYpFuhYYPb
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 18, 2024
Winners of five straight and nine of 10, the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers (36-15-4) remained hot, scoring at least four goals in seven of those outings …
18 goals in 3 games 😮💨😮💨 pic.twitter.com/2VQ4noLpdB
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 18, 2024
Maple Leafs 9, Ducks 2
The Maple Leafs became the 15th team in league history to record a hat trick in at least three straight matches …
LEAFS WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN!!!@LGCanada | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/B6OXyLPeLh
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 18, 2024
Here’s a bird’s eye view of Matthews’ third goal Saturday. With back-to-back hat tricks, he became the 10th player in league history to reach that mark …
MAAAAAATTTTYYYYY HAAAATTTYYYY
MATTHEWS 3RD GOAL OF THE GAME #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/tiWtfxgumv
— Vin 👊 (@VinSharma95) February 18, 2024
Heady company for Matthews, who has 29 games remaining to move up the list …
Auston Matthews became the 10th different player in NHL history to score six hat tricks in a season… and he’s still got 29 more games to play. 😳 #NHLStats: https://t.co/V23PubW1au pic.twitter.com/D4My8oXy7t
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 18, 2024
After becoming the first skater to record six hat tricks in a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, Matthews deserved a hug …
giggling and kicking my feet rn pic.twitter.com/ycoPemC4wh
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 18, 2024
Matthews secured a piece of team history as the third-place Maple Leafs improved to 29-16-8, 10 points behind the Panthers …
The most hat tricks in a season in Maple Leafs history 😳🎩🚨 pic.twitter.com/ZCk4lQdn0V
— ESPN (@espn) February 18, 2024
With 48 goals, Matthews has been treating opposing defenders as if they were jokes. On Monday he has a chance to become the first player in NHL history to register a hat trick in three straight outings …
Matthews making Nylander laugh pic.twitter.com/Vv9AzNJmfQ
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 18, 2024
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