Aleksander Barkov finished off a pretty saucer pass from Jonathan Huberdeau with apolmb, lifiting a backhand over Alex Nedeljkovic 3:28 seconds into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the game Detroit Red Wings.
The Panthers built a two-goal first period lead before Nedeljkovic shut them down, allowing the Red Wings to rally and force overtime.
Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring at the 8:43 mark, redirecting Markus Nutivaara’s shot past Nedeljkovic. Luostarinen won an offensive zone draw back to Brandon Montour, who quickly got it over to Nutivaara, who making his season debut.
After picking off a pass in the neutral zone late in the frame, Barkov sent Anthony Duclair in on a Nedeljkovic, but he couldn’t get enough of a handle to get a shot off. After ending up beneath the goal line, The Duke tried to bank the puck in off the goalie and Barkov was able to stab it in before the whiste blew.
The Red Wings cut the deficit in half 2:15 into the second when Mitchell Stevens rang the puck around the boards to Troy Stecher and his shot deflected off Sam Gagner’s knee and past a helpless Sergei Bobrovsky.
Pius Suter scored with 2:41 remaining in regulation to earn his team a point. After rookie Moritz Seider played catch with Robby Fabbri, he let a shot go from the point that Suter was able to deflect down and through Bobrovsky’s pads.
This was an exciting game that featured quality scoring chances and saves from both teams. Bobrovsky stopped 28 of 30 shots to raise his record to a perfect 6-0 while Nedeljkovic turned away 30 of 33 in a well-played loss.
The Panthers will get right back at tonight in Boston, facing the Bruins again after beating them 4-1 on Wednesday night at FLA Live Arena.
Gears & Sprockets
- The Panthers continued to bank points, winning their eighth straight game to make a winner of new interim head coach, and former Atlanta Thrasher, Andrew Brunette.
- Detroit won 59% of the game’s draws, so Eetu Luostarinen’s first period win which led to his goal was key. Luostarinen has goals in back to back games.
- MacKenzie Weegar collected the secondary assist on Aleksander Barkov’s winner. Weegar dished out a game-high five hits, had one shot on goal, a block, logged 28:41 TOI and was one of two Cats (Brandon Montour was the other) to finish with a plus-two rating.
- Anthony Duclair’s assist on Barkov’s first goal was his 200th point in the NHL.
- Red Wings rookie rookie defenseman Moritz Seider now has seven points, all assists, in his first eight NHL games.
- For more on the Panthers latest win, speed over to WInging It In Motown./
Video Recap (courtesy of NHL.com)