Calgary Flames center Sam Bennett stole the spotlight Wednesday with a dominant performance in a 6-0 victory against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Saddledome, scoring a hat trick in the first period and finishing with four goals.
Advertisement
Loui Eriksson and Kevan Miller scored for visiting Boston, which has just two wins in its last 10 games.
The Flames continued to control the pace of the game and with 24.2 seconds left before the final buzzer, Bennett added his 4th of the contest, becoming the youngest Flame to ever record 4 goals in a single game.
But we can’t help but think that, with their recent play finding them just two points out of a wild card spot, the Flyers are trending in the right direction.
Bennett had not had a goal in 47 days when he scored on Monday against San Jose. Immediately after the goal, his first in 19 games, he made a gesture of removing a monkey off his back. It was Streit’s fourth goal of the season.
Between the second and third goal, Johnny Gaudreau snuck one past Luongo. At the end of the day, the only thing I can say is we got our butts handed to us.
“We weren’t ready to play, that’s for sure”, Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson said.
“Back-to-backs are part of the National Hockey League schedule and quite honestly sometimes in the season you want to get back playing”, said Columbus coach John Tortorella.
Bennett also became the first Flames player to score four goals in a game since Jarome Iginla nearly 13 years ago, on February 23, 2003, according to the Canadian Press.
After beating the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, Florida has now won 12 consecutive games and enjoy a five point cushion for first place in the Atlantic Division. “We didn’t have a good start at all, we weren’t ready, and they took advantage of us….”
Making his first start since December 12 – a span of 12 games – Hiller stood his ground to stop a shot from in close by Panthers right winger Reilly Smith with two minutes left in regulation to preserve the shutout.
Notes: Florida coach Gerard Gallant missed the game after his mother died.
Bennett, 19, the youngest player to score four goals in a game since 1982 when Bobby Carpenter did so at 18 (as per Elias), was taken fourth in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft or three spots after Panthers general manager Dale Tallon selected defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the first overall pick.
Advertisement
RW Jiri Hudler made his return to action after missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury, and he chipped in with two assists. Florida’s Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov both had five-game point streaks snapped.
