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 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.

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It was probably the night’s highlight for the Sharks fans in attendance, who were otherwise subjected to San Jose’s most lopsided ... Stanley Cup champion Panthers before an announced crowd ...

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.

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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.

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice praised San Jose Sharks rookie phenom Macklin Celebrini by comparing him to Aleksander Barkov. Barkov, the captain of the defending Stanley Cup Champions ...

SAN JOSE — The Rising Phoenix Dragon and Line Dance Association performed during the first and second intermissions of Saturday night’s game between the Sharks and Florida Panthers at SAP ...

The Panthers have eight players total slated to participate in the tournament: Four for Finland (Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola), two for Canada (Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett), one for the United States (Matthew Tkachuk) and one for Sweden (Gustav Forsling).