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.

The San Jose Sharks got off to a spirited start Saturday, but it did not take long for the defending Cup champion Panthers to flex their muscles. The Panthers tied a season-high with seven goals — fou

Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks (14-32-6), who have lost six straight and nine of ten. Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 15 shots before being pulled early in the second period for Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped 14 of 17 shots in relief.

Sharks starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev, in a shaky performance, was pulled at the 3:01 mark of the second period after allowing four goals on 15 shots. Yaroslav Askarov came on in relief and but did not fare much better, as he allowed three goals on 16 shots.

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.

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.

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice praised San Jose Sharks rookie phenom Macklin Celebrini by comparing him to Aleksander Barkov.

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.

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.

The Florida Panthers sure bounced back from their blown lead in Los Angeles in a big way on Saturday. Skating against the struggling San Jose Sharks, Florida was dominant for much of the night, eventually earning an impressive 7-2 victory. It took less than six minutes for the Panthers to get the scoring started on Saturday against the Sharks.

The Cats have traveled north and will face the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday night. It will be the second and final meeting between Florida and San Jose this season after the two battled down in Sunrise back in early December.

Six weeks after he suffered a fractured cheekbone, goalie Vitek Vanecek appears to be getting close to a return as he’s been skating with the Sharks in recent days and, per coach Ryan Warsofsky, is now considered day-to-day,