The Comeback Cats were back in full force in Saturday’s matinee game, scoring four goals in the third period, and scoring the game winner in OT against the Devils to win 7-6 in Jersey. With their win, the Panthers gained two points to gain their 100th point on the season.
First Period:
The Devils got going early, scoring two goals 17 seconds apart. First off it would be the first goal of a hat trick for Yegor Sharangovich at 3:25 when he beat Sergei Bobrovsky on the doorstep. 17 seconds later, Gustav Forsling would turn the puck over and Jack Hughes would bounce on it, putting it past Bobrovsky again to make it 2-0.
Newly-acquired Panther Ben Chiarot would cut the score in half at 2-1 at 9:02 when he would redirect a shot and shoot it past Andrew Hammond.
Second Period:
Yegor Sharangovich would extend the Devils lead to 3-1 when he would net a turnaround shot from the circle set up by Dawson Mercer. 45 seconds later, the lead would get extended to 4-1 when Janne Kuokkanen would shoot it past Bobrovsky.
Radko Gudas got his second of the year to cut it back to 4-2 at 11:17. The Panthers would seem to get their momentum back when they would go on the power play due to a Dougie Hamilton holding penalty, but it would take a turn in the Devils favor. A minute and 18 seconds into the penalty kill, Yegor Sharangovich would score his first hat trick in his NHL career when he would fall on a loose puck on a breakaway and shoot a nifty backhanded goal. A minute and 24 seconds later, the Devils would seem to put the game out of reach at 6-2 when Andreas Johnsson added a goal to himself.
Third Period:
The Cardiac Cats woke up, and woke up well. Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after allowing six goals on 25 shots, and was replaced by Spencer Knight.
The Panthers got going quickly. They cut the game in half at 6-3 at 5:34 when Brandon Montour fired a perfect shot past Hammond. A minute and a half later, the Panthers would make it 6-4 when two shots by Sam Reinhart would ricochet off and Gustav Forsling would shoot the third charm past Hammond. Despite a no-goal call on Maxin Mamin due to high-sticking, they would not give up.
Spencer Knight would be pulled with five minutes remaining, and that would set the sight even closer. The final five became the Aleksander Barkov show. First off, the Panthers cut the lead to 6-5 with 4:37 remaining when Sam Bennett and Jonathan Huberdeau set up Barkov from a shot from the right side. Barkov would score the tying goal, and the touchdown with 1:24 remaining when he would bury a MacKenzie Weegar one-timer from the circle.
Overtime:
Gustav Forsling would add the extra point when he ripped the wrist shot for his second goal, and the game winner 1:45 into OT.
Takeaways:
- Since January 2010, including playoffs, NHL teams were 1-936-2 when trailing by at least four goals entering the third period. After today, they’re now 2-936-2. And both wins were by the Florida Panthers. The first one came in November of 2019 against the Boston Bruins, where they won in Boston 5-4 in the shootout after being down 4-0 in the third.
- With their win, the Panthers got their 100th point on the season, the first time since 2016, when they won the Atlantic Division.
Next Up:
The Florida Panthers play another matinee game on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres. Puck drop is at 1 PM.