Sam Bennett scored three goals and added an assist, leading the Florida Panthers to yet another home win, 7-1 over the Dallas Stars on Friday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves to improve his record to 18-3-3.
The Panthers have the NHL’s best home record at 20-3-0, and they have scored at least four goals in 19 of those 23 games.
On Friday, the Panthers also got goals from Gustav Forsling, Anthony Duclair, Jonathan Huberdeau and Carter Verhaeghe. Duclair and Brandon Montour each had two assists.
Huberdeau, who leads the Panthers with 51 points, added three assists to continue what has been a big week for him. He was named an NHL All-Star for the second time in his career.
Roope Hintz scored in the third period for Dallas, spoiling Bobrovsky’s attempt at his first shutout of the season.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was chased after 26:03. He allowed four goals and made just 13 saves before making way for Anton Khudobin, who stopped 19 of 22 shots.
For the seventh straight Panthers game, it was Florida scoring first. This time, the goal came with 3:07 expired in the first period as Forsling tapped in a perfect pass from Bennett. Huberdeau got the secondary assist on a sequence full of great passes.
The Panthers made it 2-0 on Duclair’s goal with 8:50 gone in the first. Like a quarterback leading a wide receiver, Huberdeau passed from the high slot to Duclair, cutting across the middle, and the result was a slick goal.
More great passing made it 3-0 as Montour and Aleksander Barkov got the assists on a goal by Carter Verhaeghe with 5:33 elapsed in the second period.
Just 30 seconds later, it was 4-0 after Huberdeau’s goal. The play was set up by Duclair’s steal and centering pass from behind the net.
That chased Oettinger, but the Panthers kept coming with consecutive goals by Bennett in a span of 2:03. The first, at 12:37 of the middle period, came on a power play.
Hintz’s goal just 66 seconds into the third period finally put Dallas on the board. Hintz took a long pass from Esa Lindell and scored on a backhand move, barely getting the puck between Bobrovsky’s left pad and the post.
Bennett then scored with 4:06 left to post his second hat trick of the season.
–Field Level Media