Daniil Tarasov finished with 47 saves, but couldn’t make the final stop as the Florida Panthers fell 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild at Amerant Bank Arena when Joel Eriksson Ek converted a rebound chance with five seconds left in regulation.
After a scoreless first period that saw a otherworldly 19-save performance from Tarasov, the WIld finally broke through when Yakov Trenin took an entry pass from Jeff Petry and then drove to the net before setting up Marcus Foligno in the slot for the goal 2:47 into the second.
Minnesota went up with 1:35 left in the frame when Dmitry Kulikov couldn’t control the puck behind the net and Ryan Hartman fired into the top of the net with Tarasov down and out on the other side of the crease.
Matthew Tkachuk got the out-played Cats on the board 42 seconds into the third when he deflected Gustav Forsling’s wrister in after Sam Bennett fed the defenseman at the left point.
The Panthers would pull Tarasov and tie the score at 18:47 when Seth Jones steered Tkachuk’s low-to-high pass to Aaron Ekblad in the left circle and cranked a shot by Jesper Wallstedt.
Florida couldn’t get a clear after a defensive zone faceoff win by Tomas Nosek, and after holding the puck in at the blue line, Brock Faber moved to the middle and put a shot on Tarasov through traffic. Tarasov made the save, but the rebound came to Ek, who fired it in to give the Wild the win.
The Panthers came within a whisker of getting a point out of a contest that really wasn’t much of one, only to fall in the final seconds, wasting a Herculean effort from Tarasov and some late-game heroics from Ekblad. Florida will continue to play out the string with a weekend back-to-back in New York versus the Islanders and Rangers.
The Five Hole
- Daniil Tarasov matched his career-high of 47 saves. He stopped that many shots twice while he was a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Thirteen of Tarasov’s saves were of the high-danger variety.
- After going two games without a point, Matthew Tkachuk delivered his sixth multi-point performance in his 24th appearance this season.
- In addition to his game-tying goal, Aaron Ekblad led the Panthers with five shots and logged a team-high 22:39 of ice time.
- Seth Jones’ assist on Ekblad’s fourth marker was his first point since he returned to the lineup on March 17, in Vancouver.
- Donovan Sebrango dished out a game-high six hits and blocked shot while playing 17:26.
Stat Card
