The Vancouver Canucks earned a 3-2 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday. J.T. Miller decided the contest at 2:09 of the extra period, converting a wrist shot to secure Vancouver's first win of the regular season.
Vancouver opened the scoring midway through the first period when Teddy Blueger beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a backhand shot at 11:42, assisted by Kiefer Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk. Florida responded just 11 seconds later. Jesper Boqvist recorded his first goal of the season on a wrist shot at 11:53, set up by Mackie Samoskevich and Gustav Forsling to tie the score at 1-1.
Quinn Hughes broke the tie at 6:30 of the second period, scoring his first goal of the season on a slap shot following passes from Danton Heinen and Nils Aman. The Panthers pulled even again late in the middle frame. Anton Lundell notched his fourth goal of the season at 19:00 with a snap shot on the power play, assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
After a scoreless third period, Hughes and Brock Boeser set up Miller for the game-winning goal early in overtime. In net, Kevin Lankinen stopped 26 of 28 shots to earn the victory for the Canucks. Bobrovsky finished with 30 saves on 33 shots for the Panthers, who converted their only power-play opportunity while killing off both of Vancouver's chances with the man advantage.
The result moved the Canucks to a 1-1-2 record on the season, while the Panthers moved to 3-2-1 following the overtime loss. Vancouver also claimed the first meeting of the regular season series between the two teams.
