Panthers Rally From 3 Goals Down, Beat Devils 6-4
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mackenzie Weegar scored the tying goal and set up Noel Acciari for the go-ahead tally and the Florida Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the winless New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Monday.
Brett Connolly scored twice, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dandonov also had goals as the Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 17 shots as he improved his career mark against the Devils to 17-5-1.
Pavel Zacha, Taylor Hall, Jesper Bratt and Will Butcher scored for the Devils, who fell to 0-4-2. Cory Schneider made 28 saves.
It is the Devils' worst start to a season since beginning 2013-14 with seven straight losses (0-4-3).
Weegar scored 30 seconds into the third as the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie the score at 4-4 with a point shot through traffic.
It was the third time in the game a goal was scored on the opening shift of a period.
Acciari then gave the Panthers their first lead at 5-4, deflecting home Weegar's point shot at 7:30. Dadonov added a power-play goal 15:32.
Zacha set up both first-period goals as the Devils regrouped to take a 2-1 lead.
New Jersey was rocked as Florida struck only 16 seconds in as Huberdeau converted a backhand no-look feed from Dadonov.
Hall, taking a drop pass from Zacha, pulled New Jersey even at 2:28 with a blast from the top of the right circle.
Bratt gave the Devils the lead at 19:13 as Zacha fed him the puck from the left boards. Bratt skated toward the slot to whip a backhand by Bobrovsky.
The Devils expanded the lead to 4-1 early in the second as Butcher and Zacha scored 36 seconds apart.
Butcher drilled a wrister from the left point 32 seconds into the period and Zacha followed with a deflection in front following Hall's pass.
Connolly scored the next two goals in the period to put the Panthers back in the contest.
He beat Schneider from the high slot at 9:50. Connolly closed out the scoring in the period with 7.5 seconds remaining as he flicked a shot under the crossbar.
NOTES: The worst start in Devils franchise history was 0-8-1 in 1974-75 when they were the Kansas City Scouts. ... Panthers D Keith Yandle played in his league-leading 803rd consecutive game. ... The game kicked off a season-high six game homestand for the Devils. They don't hit the road again until Nov. 2 at Carolina. ... Devils C Nico Hischier did not return for the second period. The team did not offer a medical update.
UP NEXT:
Panthers: Host Colorado on Friday night.
Devils: Host New York Rangers on Thursday night.
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