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 The 19-year-old rookie forward scored four times Wednesday to lead
the Calgary Flames to a convincing 6-0 win over the Florida Panthers
at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"It's big for my confidence," said Bennett, who became the youngest
Flames player in franchise history to record a hat trick and then
added his fourth goal with 24.2 seconds left in the third period for
good measure. "I knew I felt confident playing in this league. Now I
think I took another step in the right direction, so I'll just keep
building on that confidence."
Bennett had three of his goals in the first period as the Flames
built a commanding 4-0 lead.
"I've been getting a lot of chances, and I haven't been getting the
bounces," said Bennett, who ended his 47-day slump Tuesday with a
goal during a 5-3 home loss to the San Jose Sharks. "It's a great
feeling to get rewarded for sure."
Left wingers Johnny Gaudreau and Mason Raymond also scored for the
Flames (20-20-2), while defenseman Dougie Hamilton had two assists
to give him 100 points in his fourth NHL season.
"It's not something you really pay attention to too much, but it's
obviously pretty cool," Hamilton said. "I just want to keep helping
the team and putting points up and doing all those things."
Right winger Jiri Hudler chipped in with two assists, while
goaltender Jonas Hiller had to make only 15 saves to record his
first shutout of the season and 23rd of his career.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo stopped 11 of 15 shots he faced in
the first period before being replaced in net by Al Montoya, who
went on to stop 19 of 21 shots.
"We weren't ready to play, that's for sure," Panthers defenseman
Erik Gudbranson said. "We got beat tonight really bad, and we
deserved every minute of it."
After reeling off 12 consecutive wins, the Panthers (26-13-5) have
now dropped two straight decisions, although they earned a point
after a 3-2 overtime loss in Vancouver to the Canucks on Monday.
They will wrap up their six-game road trip on Sunday against the
Tampa Bay Lightning.
"It's not back to the drawing board," Gudbranson said. "We're a good
hockey team. We've just got to figure out a way to get back to our
game. We can't let this happen. It just wasn't a good night. At the
end of the day, the only thing I can say is we got our butts handed
to us tonight."
Bennett opened the scoring 56 seconds into the game when he
one-timed a nice backhand pass from Hudler over Luongo's blocker and
into the top corner.
"Right from the start of the game, he was flying out there," Flames
coach Bob Hartley said.
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Gaudreau then put the Flames up 2-0 at 5:52 of the first. Gaudreau
was trying to feed the puck over to Bennett, but Panthers left
winger Jonathan Huberdeau got his stick in the way of the pass.
Unfortunately for Huberdeau, the puck bounced right back to
Gaudreau, who had an easy tap-in.
"It's embarrassing," Huberdeau said. "We didn't have a good start at
all, we weren't ready, and they took advantage of us. ... We were
getting dominated in our own zone."
Bennett completed his first-period hat trick with a goal at 12:01,
when he dragged the puck toward the net and through Luongo's legs,
and exactly five minutes later, when he backhanded a rebound into
the top corner.
Raymond redirected a pass from right winger David Jones past Montoya
for the lone goal of the second period before Bennett rounded out
the scoring in the third.
Making his first start since Dec. 12 -- a span of 12 games -- Hiller
stood his ground to stop a shot from in close by Panthers right
winger Reilly Smith with two minutes left in regulation to preserve
the shutout.
NOTES: While Flames RW Jiri Hudler made his return to action after
missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury, LW Lance
Bouma sat out with a leg injury he sustained in Calgary's 5-3 loss
to San Jose at the Saddledome on Tuesday. ... Flames LW Mason
Raymond returned to Calgary's lineup. C Joe Colborne and D Ladislav
Smid were scratched. ... LW Michael Frolik, who has been out with an
upper-body injury for the past 11 games, has been skating with the
Flames and could return as early as Saturday in Edmonton against the
Oilers. ... Panthers D Aaron Ekblad missed his second straight game
with an upper-body injury, and C Dave Bolland sat out his 14th
straight game with a lower-body ailment. ... C Quinton Howden was
also scratched for the Panthers. ... With Panthers coach Gerard
Gallant away attending his mother's funeral, assistant Mike Kelly
filled in behind the Florida bench.
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