Panthers set franchise record for most goals in one period

The Florida Panthers set a franchise record for most goals in a single period with seven in a 9-5 Florida win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. The seven goals were scored in the first frame. In all 10 goals were scored in the first period alone, as the Panthers had a 7-3 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

The Panthers Seven First Goals

After Montreal took a 1-0 lead 16 seconds in, the Panthers tied it at one. Colin White of Boston, Massachusetts scored from Nick Cousins of Belleville, Ontario and Eric Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario at 2:43. Florida went up 2-1 34 seconds later as Carter Verhaeghe of Toronto, Ontario scored from Sam Bennett of Holland Landing, Ontario. After Montreal tied it at two, Gustav Forsling of Linkoping, Sweden scored from Matthew Tkachuk of Scottsdale, Arizona at 6:04 of the first period to put Florida up 3-2.

The Canadiens then tied the score at three before the Panthers scored four unanswered goals. At 9:09, Aaron Ekblad of Windsor, Ontario scored from Eetu Luostarinen of Siilinjarvi, Finland and Aleksander Barkov of Tampere, Finland to put the Panthers up 4-3. At 10:33 of the first period, the Panthers went up 5-3 as Ryan Longberg of Richmond Hill, Ontario scored from Radko Gudas of Prague, Czechia and Josh Mahura of St. Albert, Alberta. At 12:22 of the first period, Sam Reinhart of West Vancouver, British Columbia scored the game-winner from Mahura to put the Panthers up 6-3, and then at 12:22, Verhaeghe scored from Tkachuk to put the Panthers up 7-3. Interestingly, all seven Panthers first period goals were even strength.

Previous record

The Panthers had six goals in the second period in a 6-3 Florida win over the Boston Bruins on April 5, 2000. All six of the Panthers goals in the game were scored in the same period.

Most goals by one team and two teams in one period

The NHL record for most goals by one team in one period belongs to the Buffalo Sabres, as they scored nine times in the second period in a 14-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 19, 1981. In that same period, the Maple Leafs and Sabres combined for a record 12 goals with the Sabres outscoring the Maple Leafs 9-3. That record was matched on December 11, 1985 as the Edmonton Oilers outscored the Chicago Blackhawks 7-5 in the second period en route to a 12-9 win. The 10 first period goals between the Canadiens and Panthers were the third most goals scored in a single period by both teams in NHL history.