NHL Twitter reacts to Avalanche vs. Panthers

Two of the top teams in the NHL tangled on Saturday night in Sunrise, Florida, when the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche visited the red-hot Florida Panthers. The Avalanche offense was too much for the Panthers to handle, as Colorado was able to win, although not comfortably.

Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews, Matt Nieto, and Logan O’Connor all netted goals for the Avalanche in the 5-3 win.

Here’s how NHL Fans reacted:

Avalanche hold on against Panthers in battle of some of NHL's best

The Avalanche landed on the board, although not in a conventional way. Three minutes into the first period, Logan O’Connor lit the lamp for the Avalanche while on the penalty kill. A shot deflected off of a Panthers defender and past one of the NHL's top goalies, Sergei Bobrovky to make the score 1-0.

Five minutes later, the Avalanche offense came alive again. J.T. Compher took advantage of a tired Panthers defense, skated behind the Florida net and landed a pass right onto Matt Nieto’s stick in the slot; 2-0 Avalanche.

The Panthers came out like a house afire in the second. Two goals later, the score was even.

Aaron Ekblad found the back of the net in the first, with a shot from the blue line corner that Alexandar Georgiev didn’t see before it was in the back of the net.

The second was on a partial breakaway from Sam Bennett. Bennett caught a slow glove hand from Georgiev and made him pay, finding the open spot for a goal to tie it up.

The Avalanche weren't phased, and quickly responded with two goals of their own.

Halfway through the period, Devon Toews collected a Bobrovsky rebound off of a shot from Bowen Byram to go up by one.

Then, six minutes later, NHL All-Star Nathan MacKinnon extended the Avalanche's lead by two with a shot after a succession of saves by Bobrovsky. It put the Russian netminder out of position; 4-2 Avs, end of the second period.

In the third, Sasha Barkov brought the lead down to one goal by driving home a beautiful centering pass after a Panthers turnover.

The Avalanche defense came alive in the final minutes. Colorado was able to kill off multiple penalties in the final minutes. Another shot narrowly missed and bounced off the post, which could have tied the game.

With just over two minutes left, Bobrovsky headed to the bench, but the Avalanche were able to hold on under the man advantage. All-NHL Nathan MacKinnon buried an empty netter to come away with a 5-3 win.