The Florida Panthers kept its fading playoff hopes alive and eded four-game losing streak with a much-needed 5-4 shootout win over the Boston Bruins at Amerant Bank Arena.
After Sam Bennett had a goal waved off, Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring for real at 4:22 when he beat Joonas Korpisalo with a wrister from the right circle following a turnover by Morgan Geekie.
The Bruins would forge ahead on back-to-back breakaway goals from Mikey Eyssimont.
Alex Steeves tipped Hampus Lindholm’s outlet pass through the skates of Uvis Balinkis and Eyssimont skated into the puck and solved Sergei Bobrovksy five-hole at 7:18.
Eyssimont emerged from the penalty box to reel in a stretch pass from Marat Khusnutdinov and pulled Bobrovksy to the ice before tucking the puck into the back of the net at 12:34 to give Boston the lead. The secondary assist went to defenseman Andrew Peeke.
The Panthers would dominate the second period, scoring to open up a two-goal bulge.
With Nikita Zadorov off for slashing, Matthew Tkachuk took a pass from Anton Lundell and then whipped the puck back out to Balinskis, who loaded up and fired a shot by Korpisalo thirty seconds into the frame.
Tkachuk picked up a power-play goal of his own 2:17 later, deflecting Lundell’s pass on Korpisalo and then putting the rebound off the side of the goalie’s torso to give the Cats the lead back. Balinskis was credited with the second helper.
Florida’s final goal of regulation came off a shorthanded rush at 18:33 when Sam Reinhart threaded a perfect centering pass to Lundell, who redirected it home for his 16th goal of the season.
As his been the case lately, the Panthers weren’t up to snuff in the third and gagged up the lead they worked so hard to build.
Boston halved the deficit at 7:35 when Charlie McAvoy let go of a shot from the right point, after taking a pass from his partner, Lindholm, that deflected off the blade of Aaron Ekblad’s stick before striking Mark Kastelic on its way past Bobrovsky.
A slashing call on Carter Verhaeghe would lead to the tying goal. After Bobrovsky denied Geekie’s shot from the left circle, the rebound came to Casey Mittelstadt, who drilled the puck into the twine at 10:30. David Pastrnak was given the first assist, so either Geekie’s shot hit him on the way to the net or the rebound ticked off him. Didn’t appear to touch him to my eyes, but I’m not the official scorer.
Despite being dented four times, Bobrovsky would come big in an exciting overtime to help get his club to the shootout.
After Lundell and Viktor Arvidsson traded goals in the first round, Marchand would pot a beautiful backhander for the go-ahead goal in the top of the fourth, setting the stage for Bobrovsky’s denial of Mittelstadt that ended it.
It was pretty, or optimal, but the Panthers, fortified by the return of Bennett, Lundell and Marchand, were able to win on home ice for the first time since January 4, and gain a point on the Bruins in the wild card chase. They’ll get right back at tonight when the travel upstate to face the Tampa Bay Lighting in the final game before the break for the Olympics.
The Five Hole
Anton Lundell returned after a three-game absence to deliver his second three-point performance of the season, and third of his career. Lundell finished the game with four shots on goal, two blocks and a hit.
Other than getting owned by Mikey Eyssimont, Sergei Bobrovsky was pretty good. Bobrovksy made 25 saves, including 12 of the high-danger variety, to post his 450th NHL win.
Uvis Balinskis had his second multi-point game of the campaign. The Milan-bound Latvian has gotten on the score sheet in three of the last four games.
Defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Niko Mikkola each blocked a game-high four shots. Right behind them was Gustav Fosling, who blocked three while playing a game-high 30:48.
Evan Rodrigues registered a game-high five shots on goal and won 64.3% of his draws. Rodrigues and Brad Marchand were the only Panthers to finish with a minus-three rating.
Stat Card
