Panthers Postgame Notes - 10.25.21 vs. ARI

FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. ARIZONA COYOTES

OCTOBER 25, 2021

FLA Live Arena – Sunrise, Fla.

FLORIDA PANTHERS	ARIZONA COYOTES
5	3

PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES

Forward Sam Bennett

On winning their sixth straight game:

“We are a confident group right now and things are going well, so it’s a lot of fun out there. We did make it a little too close there, I think we got a little too comfortable in that game, we’ve just got to do a better job at staying with it and doing the right things for the full 60 minutes, but 6-0 we are feeling good right now.”

On Huberdeau’s game-winning goal:

“I mean, I think we just read it as it went, we made a great play over and gave it back and usually he won’t miss those ones, and you don’t get those too often so it was nice to have that.”

Forward Joe Thornton

On scoring his first goal as a Panther:

“It was great, [I] felt good, but a good play by Sam [Reinhart] just to kind of whack it over and like I said in the interview earlier on, it was just an open net, so just put it in.”

On power play goals:

“Just shooting from the middle, I think Ekky [Aaron Ekbad] did a great job shooting from the middle, Monty [Brandon Montour] did a great job shooting from the middle. You know, when it’s there, get pucks through and like you saw tonight, good things happen.”

Forward Frank Vatrano

On playing with Joe Thornton:

“It’s great. It’s awesome—he’s a guy I’ve watched my entire life, so it’s obviously pretty cool. But, I think tonight we knew where we were going to be on the ice, kind of working in tandem [along with] [Patric] Hornqvist, we all [worked] really well together and got pucks back. [We’re] doing our job and hopefully we can do more of that.”

On the win tonight and being 6-0-0:

“I think every game is important, obviously. Playing against a team we don’t see a lot with Arizona, you never know what to expect. You know you’re going to get a team that works hard—and we did tonight—and now we look forward to Boston.

“Feeling good. We’re confident. We know how good of a team we have and we just need to keep going game by game and keep putting these wins up early.”

Head Coach Joel Quenneville

On getting two power-play goals:

“Take it, take it, take it, because you never know what’s going to happen. Those are the types of ways you get some momentum and all of a sudden that consistency and the predictability of counting on the powerplay to be successful and keep going. Every game’s different, but we’re trying to keep pressing in that area.”

On Joe Thornton’s goal:

“When he’s playing I think Joe can give us that look, give us some opportunity on the line. I thought that line was effective tonight—nice play [Sam Reinhart] kicked over to him on the open side and Joe burying it. Frankie getting a goal was nice as well. It’s one of those nights where being around the net was an effective play but I thought that line did some other things well. Joe was on the power play before he was missing games, as well, so I think he’s playing to be there.”

CATS STATS

The Panthers won their franchise-record sixth consecutive game to start the season, and are just the 25^th team in NHL history to begin the regular season with six straight victories.
FLA is the first NHL team to start the season 6-0-0 since the 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens. The Cats’ streak represents the ninth time in club history that the team has won six consecutive games.
The Panthers have won their past 12 regular season games dating back to April 27 at NSH, and their past eight games at FLA Live Arena dating back to April 24 vs. CAR.
Jonathan Huberdeau recorded a goal and an assist. He has produced five points (3-2-5) over his past two games, and leads FLA with eight points (3-5-8) over FLA’s six games.
Frank Vatrano and Joe Thornton eachscored their first goals of the season. With the goal, Thornton became the second-oldest player in Panthers history to score a regular-season goal (42 years and 115 days) behind Jaromir Jagr (45 years, 45 days on April 1, 2014), per NHL PR.
Spencer Knight secured his sixth win in his sixth career regular-season appearance, marking the fourth-longest winning streak to start a career in NHL history. Only Martin Jones (8-0-0 in 2013-14 w/ LAK), Bob Froese (8-0-0 in 1982-83 w/ PHI) and Wayne Thomas (7-0-0 in 1972-73 w/ MTL) have won more consecutive regular-season games to begin their careers, per NHL PR.
Sam Bennett posted two assists, extending his point streak to three games (1-3-4). He has recorded 22 points (10-12-22) over 16 career games with FLA.
Brandon Montour recorded two assists.
Aleksander Barkov posted an assist and won 15 of his 20 faceoffs (75%). All six of Barkov’s points this season (2-4-6) have come at even strength.
Sam Reinhart notched an assist, extending his point streak to four games (2-3-5).
Anthony Duclair scored his fourth goal of the season, tied with Sam Bennett for the team lead.
Mason Marchment led FLA with five hits in the game.