Brett Connolly said coming into his first game against his former team that the first 20 minutes would be “weird.”

He got over it quickly.

Connolly scored his sixth goal of the season 14:26 into the first period to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. It came off a sick deflection.

Video

After Brian Boyle shed a lazy Evgeny Kuznetsov along the wall, the heavy forward found Anton Stralman at the point. Stralman hammered a slap shot wide, but Connolly, who was not tied up in front of the net by Dmitry Orlov, managed to get the bottom of his blade on the puck.

Brett Connolly scores against his former teammates on this beautiful deflection. It gives the Panthers a 2-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/MPj18dJYBV

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 8, 2019

The puck redirected through Holtby’s pads for the goal.

Another look at Brett Connolly's deflection goal pic.twitter.com/TrTF84Ajjz

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 8, 2019

Connolly, who is playing in the Panthers’ top six, now has more goals than Evgeny Kuznetsov (5) and Nicklas Backstrom (2).

Earlier in the period Holtby also gave up a goal Frank Vatrano who scored on a breakaway after Jonas Siegenthaler wiped out.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Panthers

Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington