Opening Night for the Florida Panthers was a night of ups and downs. Despite being down 4-2 with 7:31 left in the third period, Florida would end up winning in overtime, 5-4. Carter Verhaeghe scored two goals on the night, including the game-winning OT goal with 1:37 left in 3-on-3 hockey. Sergei Bobrovsky, who has major competition at the goalie position, made 42 saves in a huge defeat over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
First Period:
Florida would start off with control of this game, leading the shots 7-5 through the first nine minutes. Carter Verhaeghe would get the first goal of the Panthers season, who would be set up by Aleksander Barkov, who would have two assists on the night.
Second Period:
The second period would be more action-packed than the first. Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith attempted to stop a breakaway with a poke check. However, the pucks ended up bouncing off his teammate and in the net. Anthony Duclair got credited with the goal for Florida, putting the Cats up 2-0.
Special teams would play a big part in this game, as the Penguins would use it to their advantage. In the second period alone, the Penguins had the man-advantage five times. Pittsburgh would split the game in half at 11:45 when Danton Heinen scored on a power-play goal, assisted by Dominik Simon and John Marino. Pittsburgh would get a second power-play goal when Jeff Carter scored his 400th career NHL goal. Carter, 36, is the 101st player in NHL history to reach 400 goals.
Third Period:
Pittsburgh would take its first lead of the night at 8:01 in the third period. Jake Guentzel got his first goal of the year on a puck that rebounded off of Sergei Bobrovsky’s stick. 30 seconds later, Jason Zucker shot a puck on net, and then in a tie-up, Evan Rodrigues would score off of a bounce to make it 4-2.
After Pittsburgh’s two goals to start off the third period, the game turned into the Aaron Ekblad show. Ekblad would first score off of a scramble, which would eventually lead to an empty net opportunity to make it 4-3. Around a minute and a half later, Ekblad would score again to tie the game at four off of a backhanded shot.
Overtime:
Overtime would begin with both teams getting opportunities early on. A minute and a half into overtime, Pittsburgh’s Evan Rodrigues would attempt to win the game on a breakaway in which Sergei Bobrovsky denied the puck. Moments later, Aleksander Barkov and Anthony Duclair set up Carter Verhaeghe for the game-winning goal. It was Verhaeghe’s second goal of the game, lifting the Florida Panthers over the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4.
Notes:
- Anton Lundell played in his first career NHL game.
- Jake Guentzel played in his 300th career NHL game.
- With Jeff Carter’s goal against Florida, he is one of seven active NHL players that have 400 goals.
- With two power-play goals allowed in the second period, Florida allowed multiple power-play goals in one period in a regular-season game for the first time since January 16, 2020, against the Los Angeles Kings.
What’s Next?
The Florida Panthers will host the New York Islanders on Saturday night before making their first trip up to Tampa Bay to play the Lightning on Tuesday night.