The Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime on Saturday night. Tkachuk scored his second consecutive overtime game winner on the road to put Florida up 2-0 in the series. By snatching two on the road, the Panthers have set themselves up for a trip to the cup final.
Game Recap
Carolina wasted no time finding the early lead. Jalen Chatfield tipped in a centering shot by Sebastian Aho to score within the first two minutes. Shortly after, Gustav Forsling seemed to have tied the game at one a piece. However, Sam Bennett was offside taking the goal off the board. Following the early “goals” both teams would each get a chance on the power play. Despite this, neither team was successful. At the end of the period, another goal was taken off the board due to offsides. Carolina thought they extended the lead to two, but that was not the case. After one, Carolina was ahead 1-0.
Eight minutes into the second period a candidate for goal of the year was featured. Following a Josh Mahura pass, Sasha Barkov had the puck on his stick all alone in front of the net. After getting Raanta to bite on a fake between-the-legs shot, he pulled it to his backhand and roofed it. Barkov’s goal tied the game at one a piece. Elsewhere on the scoresheet, each team had a man advantage, but once again could not score.
The third period saw the Hurricanes dominate. They limited the Panthers to a measly three shots on net. Not only did they dominate defensively, but they also had a power play. Carolina would not push one past Bobrovsky though, and the game would go to overtime.
1:39 into overtime, Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a costly penalty. This penalty gave Florida the chance to end the game, and twelve second later they capitalized on the chance. In tac-toe-fashion, Matthew Tkachuk fired one home from Sam Reinhart to be the overtime hero.
FL Teams Star of the Game
Bobrovsky or Tkachuk is the question. Why not, both? Tkachuk scored the game-winning goal for the second game in a row, netting his third overtime winner of the playoffs. In net, Bobrovsky put on a clinic. Bob stopped 37 of 38 shots for a .974 save percentage. Without these two clutch players, the Cats fate would have been far different.
Up Next
FLA Live Arena plays host to game three on Monday night. The Panthers and Hurricanes face off at 8:00 PM EST.