After a strong first period in which they scored two goals in less than a minute, the San Jose Sharks went south quick and hard Saturday night in a 7-2 loss to the visiting Florida Panthers.

The Panthers, who have won four of their last six, erased an early one-goal deficit with six unanswered goals to coast past the host San Jose Sharks.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad had a goal and an assist in his return from an upper-body injury and the Florida Panthers routed the San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday night.

After missing each of the last seven games, top-pair defenseman Aaron Ekblad will return to the blue line for the Florida Panthers when they face-off against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

ANAHEIM – The Florida Panthers spread the offensive wealth around en route to a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks in the first stop of their West Coast road trip at Honda Center on Tuesday. Improving to 28-17-3, Florida swept its home-and-home series with Anaheim.

Zegras returns to the lineup after missing 22 games with a knee injury, but Florida beats the Ducks for the second time in four days, 5-3, handing them their seventh loss in eight games.

Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a road win against the Anaheim Ducks, beating them for the second time in four days.

Verhaeghe stole the puck from Anaheim defenseman Jacob Trouba behind the Ducks' goal before putting it into the upper right corner of the net to extend the Panthers' lead to 3-1 with 1:11 remaining in the first period. Florida has scored three times in the first period four times this season which trails only Tampa Bay and Ottawa (both five).

The final NHL game on Wednesday's schedule will pit the defending champion Panthers against the Kings out on the West Coast.

Matthew Tkachuk scored once in a three-point outing while Aaron Ekblad collected one goal and one assist in his return to the lineup to pace the visiting Florida Panthers to a 7-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, and Nate Schmidt, Sam Bennett ... into the third. The Panthers led 3-2 after the first period with Ekblad, who returned to Florida’s top defensive ...

SUNRISE, Fla. – Take a bow, Dmitry Kulikov. When the Florida Panthers host the Los Angeles Kings at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday, the veteran defenseman will suit up in the 1,000 th game of his career. A special milestone, he will become the 402nd skater to hit that mark in NHL history.