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.

San Jose Sharks, after being flattened by the Florida Panthers, face Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday

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.

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

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.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions! Today, like every day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each. We’ll also break down head-to-head matchups and other factors that may play a part.

This affiliate content is not influenced by our advertising relationships, but AP and Data Skrive might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content.

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.

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 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.

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