It wasn’t pretty, but the Florida Panthers got a pair of third period markers from Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Cats a much-needed 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers went to the final frame down one, thanks to Robby Fabbri’s first period power-play goal, and it looked they were on their way to getting shutout by former goaltender Alex Lyon.
A seriously ticked off Aaron Ekblad helped turn the tide by emerging from the penalty box, and driving to the net after Barkov slipped him a perfect headman pass. After Ekblad lost control of the puck as he neared Lyon, Barkov took possession and promptly deposited it in the back of the net with 8:39 remaining to tie the tilt. Niko Mikkola drew the second helper on Barkov’s 20th of the season. That’s the ninth time that Barkov has reached that plateau.
Some hard work and a little bit of puck luck put the Panthers on top 2:43 later. After working a give-and-go with Reinhart to gain the zone, Barkov cut through the Detroit defense and was able to get a final touch on the puck once he lifted it past Jeff Petry, forcing Mortiz Seider into an own goal, much to the delight of many in the crowd of 19,290. This time, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson drew the secondary assist.
With the team’s still skating 4-on-4, a tripping call on Brandon Montour proved costly when Patrick Kane fed an open Dylan Larkin and he flubbed the shot, but was still able to get it to go in off Sergei Bobrovsky’s shoulder to tie things up 56 seconds after Barkov’s go-ahead goal.
The Cats came up with a huge penalty kill in overtime after Barkov tripped short-term teammate Ben Chiarot to force the game to the skills competition.
Reinhart, who got robbed on a shorthanded chance in the second, opened the first round with a nifty stick-side, forehand conversion on Lyon.
Bobrovsky took over from there, making consecutive saves on Lucas Raymond, Kane and Larkin, and making them look rather easy to guide the Panthers back to the win column after annoying one-goal losses to the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders.
Props to the Cats for the gritty comeback effort that somewhat salvaged the homestand. That said, it’s still taking them a lot of effort to dent the twine and they needed a little help from Seider to get the second one. The zebars weren’t exactly helping either, as the Red Wings enjoyed a 6-1 edge in power plays. The Panthers spent most of the rest of the day in first place before the Bruins also posted a 3-2 shootout win over the Washington Capitals. Florida will open their final road trip of the season Monday night in Toronto.
Engines & Breaks
- Nice to see Aleksander Barkov pull the Panthers through in a tough spot. The captain established a new franchise record, passing Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen, with his 32nd career multigoal game. He became the fourth Cat this season to reach the 70-point mark, doing so for the fifth time in his career.
- Not mentioned above, hometown boy Shane Gostisbehere assisted on both Detroit goals. David Perron made a fantastic pass to set up Robby Fabbri’s game-opening goal.
- Sergei Bobrovsky ended a personal five-game losing streak by stopping 20 shots over the first 65 minutes in addition to his perfect performance in the shootout.
- After a torrid January (24 points) and strong February (17 points), Matthew Tkachuk has come back to earth a bit. Tkachuk only scored twice in March, and finished the month with 11 points in 14 games.
- The Red Wings wouldn’t have earned a point if not for a strong performance from Ex-Cat Alex Lyon, who finished with 36 saves. It wasn’t quite enough to get his first win since February 27.
- The Panthers earned seven out of eight possible points against Detroit. Read more about it at Winging It In Motown.