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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Noel Acciari scored two goals and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves in his first start in three games to lift the Florida Panthers over the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night.
Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov and Mark Pysyk also scored for Florida. Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists to move within one point of tying Olli Jokinen for the most in Panthers franchise history (419).
Tyler Motte and Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko made 44 saves.
The Canucks lost their second in a row after winning seven straight, and have given up 14 goals in those two losses.
Leading 3-1, the Panthers increased their lead on a power-play goal by Hoffman, whose shot while on one knee went high into the net with 16:20 left in the second.
Acciari deflected in a shot from Aaron Ekblad with 13:05 left in the third to make it 5-1. Acciari has 12 goals in his last 12 games.
Motte’s goal with 7:46 left made it 5-2.
The Panthers scored goals on their first two shots of the game.
Acciari made the score 1-0 when he grabbed a loose puck in the right circle and fired it past Demko 1 minute in.
Pysyk made it 2-0 when he took a nice pass from Colton Sceviour in the slot and pushed it by Demko at 16:59.
Boeser closed the score to 2-1 when he redirected a shot from the point by Tyler Myers into the net at 6:51 of the first.
Dadnov flipped the puck over Demko from the slot with 1:07 left in the first to make it 3-1.
NOTES: Panthers C Brian Boyle recorded his 100th NHL assist on the goal by Pysyk. ... D MacKenzie Weegar practiced Wednesday, but missed his eighth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. ... Boeser has 17 points in his last 17 games for the Canucks.
UP NEXT
Canucks: visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Panthers: host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.
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