Sam Bennett lifted the Florida Panthers to an electrifying 7-6 comeback win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, ending the Cats five-game winless streak at Amerant Bank Arena with four seconds remaining in overtime.
The deciding goal came after Brad Marchand and Bennett combined to dispossess Zach Werenski of the puck at center ice. Bennett dropped to Gustav Forsling, who head-manned to Marchand on the left side. Marchand patiently waited for the incoming Bennett before letting go of a languid centering pass. Bennett quickly went backhand to forehead to beat Elvis Merzlikins, and the clock, giving the needy Cats their first win of the homestand.
Florida, who never led until the end, overcame deficits of 1-goal, 3-goals and 2-goals to tie the game three different times.
The Blue Jackets struck on the game’s first power play to grab the lead at 7:40 when Damon Severson moved into the slot and deflected Ivan Provorov’s shot past Sergei Bobrovsky with the second assist going to Cole Sillinger.
Mackie Samoskevich whacked the puck away from Sean Monahan and it went right to Evan Rodrigues, who outwaited Merzlikins before firing home at 9:47 to knot the score.
A wild second period saw each team pour in three straight goals in a span of less than five minutes, with Columbus doing it first to open up a 4-1 lead before the Cats rallied to tie.
Dmitri Voronkov would kick off the goal parade off at 5:26 from Provorov and Werenski; Miles Wood added another from Charlie Coyle and Isac Lundestrom 31 seconds later; and Kirill Marchenko capped the run at 10:24 with a backhander assisted by Adam Fantilli and Voronkov.
Down three, Paul Maurice opted to stay with Bobrovsky and Carter Verhaeghe halved the deficit 51 seconds later by deflecting in a Seth Jones wrister after Marchand fed the defenseman at right point.
It took Verhaeghe all of 1:56 to get another to pull the Panthers within one. Coyle got his blade on Marchand’s sizzling seam pass, but Verhaeghe was able to swat it out of the air for his seventh of the season. Bennett drew the secondary assist on the man-advantage marker.
Florida’s power play would click again at 16:12 to even it up. After Sam Reinhart and Bennett exchanged passes, Reinhart sent the puck back to Jones and his wrister found the netting behind Merzlikins through a screen to give the big defenseman his fourth of the season.
Columbus would regain the lead at 18:26 when Denton Mateychuk’s aerial clear bounced off the glove of Aaron Ekblad and then hopped over the stick of Forsling. Sillinger finally put a fork in the loose puck and then flung it in through bodies to make the Cats pay for their comedy of errors.
Lundestrom would notch his first goal with the Blue Jackets 2:27 into the third by finishing off a return pass from Wood after a crisp outlet from Brendan Smith sent the pair off on a perfectly executed 2-on-1 break.
A sensational individual effort by Marchand made it 6-5 with 15:39 left on the clock. After a taking pass from Bennett and entering zone 3-on-2, Marchand did it all himself, curling inside of Mateychuk and then putting the puck in after Merzlikins got a piece of it with his stick. Verhaeghe picked up his third point of the tilt with the secondary assist.
The Panthers unsuccessfully tried to spring Eetu Luostarinen, however the lanky Finn was able to get his stick on the puck as Merzlikins was trying to send it to safety. Instead the puck popped into air and was gloved down by Anton Lundell, who dented the twine before Merzlikins could get back in position at 14:18.
Bobrvosky made five saves in the overtime, helping the Panthers survive a hooking on Reinhart before Bennett ended Florida’ slump.
After dropping a goalie duel against Nashville on Thursday, the Panthers had work overtime again and this time came up a winner, thanks in large part to the trio of Marchand. Bennett and Verhaeghe, who combined for four goals and eleven points. The Cats get right back at today, as they finish off the homestand against the New York Islanders, who have won three in a row.
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