A fortuitous bounce coupled with a 29-save effort from Sergei Bobrovsky helped the Florida Panthers complete a 3-2 comeback victory over the Seattle Kraken at Amerant Bank Arena.
Off since Tuesday, the Panthers got off to a slow start and fell behind 7:58 into the tilt when Yanni Gourde tipped Will Borgen’s outlet pass to Jared McCann, who broke in on Bobrovsky and finished after a pretty forehand-backhand deke.
Seattle doubled its lead 7:34 in the middle frame when Eeli Tolvanen scored his first of the season by deflecting Jaden Schwartz’ shot down and through Bobrovsky legs. Borgen collected the secondary assist on the goal.
Three Panthers would get their first goals of the season to sink the Kraken and lift the Cats over the .500 mark.
After Jamie Oleksiak went to the sin bin for Interferring with Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling one-timed Anton Lundell’s pass past Joey Daccord to halve the deficit. Carter Verhaeghe got the secondary helper on the Forsling’s bomb which came just 1:19 after Tolvanen’s goal.
Florida knotted it up 11 seconds later when Niko Mikkola tapped the puck back to Dmitry Kulikov after Lundell won an offensive zone draw and he let go of a shot that Matthew Tkachuk redirected home from the left circle.
The Kraken had the better of the play in third, outshooting the Panthers 15-10, but a crazy bounce off the glass after Josn Mahura took a pass from Kulikov and dumped the puck in hung Daccord out to dry. Nick Cousins was there to sweep the puck into the vacated net for the game-winning goal before the goaltender could get back in the cage.
Hats off to the Panthers for overcoming a slow start and a disallowed Sam Reinhart goal late in the second to get the win and finish its first homestand with a 3-1 record. The 4-3 Cats will begin a three-game road trip in Boston on Monday night.
Tossed salads & Scrambled eggs
- The victory marked the first time the Panthers have ever beaten the Kraken on home ice. Sergei Bobrovsky followed Spencer Knight as the second Panther goalie to get a win against the NHL’s 32nd team.
- Florida scored on its only power-play chance and killed off Seattle one opportunity. Purr-fect!
- While he’s had some defensive and positioning issues, veteran Dmitry Kulikov is tied for third on the team in helpers and leads the defensemen in scoring with five assists.
- Aleksander Barkov returned to the lineup after a one-game absence and was credited with two hits in 20:12 TOI.
- Solid performance for Seattle’s Joey Daccord, who finished with 35 saves. Daccord was making his third straight start.
- Sam Reinhart saw his five-game goal and point streak (7G/2A) ended by a successful challenge for offsides.
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