SUNRISE, Fla. -- Radim Vrbata had a hat trick, his first three goals with the Florida Panthers, in an 8-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at BB&T Center on Thursday.
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Panthers highlights] Thirteen Panthers had at least one point, and Florida scored eight times on 22 shots. Evgenii Dadonov scored twice, and Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and two assists. Vrbata gathered in a rebound of Keith Yandle's shot outside the crease and scored at 8:39 of the third period to make it 7-2. It was his first hat trick since Dec. 7, 2015, when he was with the Vancouver Canucks. "It's very important. When you score that first and second goal, it's always better to play with a lead in this league," said Vrbata, who has seven NHL hat tricks. "You don't forget your hat tricks."
He gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 1:04 of the first period and made it 3-1 on the power play at 17:24. The Panthers went up 2-0 at 4:23 on Owen Tippett's first NHL goal in his fourth game. He tapped in a pass from Jamie McGinn. "I was happy for him. He was smiling ear to ear," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "He played really well besides the goal as well, so he's making a case for himself and it's nice to see him get rewarded." The Ducks made it 2-1 at 6:24 when Logan Shaw circled behind Florida's net and centered to Kalle Kossila, who scored his first NHL goal in his third game. The Panthers extended their lead to 4-1 at 4:03 of the second period when Trocheck poked in a rebound of a slap shot by Alexander Petrovic. Barkov backhanded a pass to Dadonov, who scored on John Gibson at 8:27 for a 5-1 lead.
"We basically gave the game away, turnovers. We just didn't have anything going tonight," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "You just flush it, but it's hard to flush. Coaches don't flush that easily." Barkov finished a 2-on-1 with Derek MacKenzie for a shorthanded goal and a 6-1 lead at 15:37 of the second. Gibson gave up six goals on 17 shots and was replaced by Reto Berra to start the third period. James Reimer made 31 saves for Florida. Andrew Cogliano (at 2:18) and Shaw (at 10:46) scored for Anaheim in the third period. Dadonov scored his second goal with 2:41 left to make it 8-3. It was Dadonov's second multigoal game in the NHL, his first since March 19, 2011, when he was with the Panthers before leaving for the Kontinental Hockey League.
Goal of the game
McGinn led a 2-on-1 before sending a cross-ice pass to Tippett at the goalmouth, where he steered it past Gibson's glove. "Obviously, it's a pretty special feeling, my first NHL goal," the 18-year-old said. "I just hopped over the bench and saw it was a turnover on their part."
Save of the game
Ducks forward Nick Ritchie shoved Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson into Reimer. With Reimer laying across the goal, he stuck out his leg to smother a point-blank shot by Ondrej Kase. The play was reviewed because the referees weren't sure if the puck crossed the goal line. "I remember getting hit and fell over," Reimer said. "The puck squibbed back into the crease and I felt it hit my stomach and my back. I didn't think it crossed the line."
Highlight of the game
Keith Yandle's slap shot caromed off Trocheck's skate to Vrbata in the slot. He swooped around to the far post before scoring past Berra for his hat trick. It was the Panthers' first since Jonathan Marchessault's on March 20 against the Chicago Blackhawks. "Then you have a game like this where everything you touch seems to go in, so I will take it," Vrbata said.
Need to know
Panthers forward Connor Brickley was helped off the ice after a collision with Ducks forward Derek Grant at 4:22 of the third period. Boughner said Brickley is day to day. … Ducks rookie defenseman Jaycob Megna, who was born in nearby Plantation, Florida, played 18:17 and was minus-2 in his seventh NHL game.
They said it
"We gave up those goals early that unfortunately got the game out of reach. Every goal we gave up was our fault. [Gibson] was taking the brunt." -- Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano
"I thought the power-play goal was probably the biggest goal of the night when it was 2-1 to make it 3-1. We talked about our special teams before the game and I thought we responded in both areas: penalty kill and power play." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
What's next
Ducks: At Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, PRIME, NHL.TV) Panthers: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-D, NHL.TV)
