Gustav Forsling scored with 17 seconds left in overtime as the host Florida Panthers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Saturday night in Sunrise.
Sam Bennett had the primary assist as Forsling shot the puck into the open right side of the net.
This was a matchup between the NHL’s two most-recent Stanley Cup champions: Vegas in 2023 and Florida in 2024.
Florida also got goals from Sam Reinhart, Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen. Aaron Ekblad and Anton Lundell added two assists each, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 23 saves.
Vegas got goals from Tanner Pearson, Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden. Nicolas Roy added two assists, and Ilya Samsonov provided 45 saves.
However, Vegas is winless in three road games this season (0-2-1).
The Panthers played their fifth straight game without superstar forwards Aleksander Barkov (leg injury) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness). They are both among the top 10 players in the NHL, according to ESPN’s rankings.
In an opening period that featured zero penalties, the only goal came with 33 seconds left. Roy intercepted a bad pass by Lundell deep in his own end. Roy quickly passed to Pearson, who beat Bobrovsky with a high shot stick-side.
Vegas had a 15-4 advantage on first-period faceoffs.
Florida tied the score 69 seconds into the second as Reinhart scored from a tough angle at the bottom of the right circle, beating Samsonov five-hole. Lundell, who turned the puck over on Vegas’ first goal, got the primary assist to Reinhart.
Vegas took a 2-1 lead with 5:45 left in the second. Pearson passed to Kolesar, who was in front of the net. Kolesar fanned on the puck, but it went in off his left skate, squirting in between Bobrovsky’s legs.
After a penalty charged to Roy for slashing A.J. Greer, Florida tied the score 2-2. With just 40 seconds left in the period, Verhaeghe threaded a great pass to Bennett, who tapped it in for the goal.
Vegas grabbed a 3-2 advantage as Howden stole the puck from Greer deep in Florida’s end before swooping in for the goal. Howden faked his forehand before scoring with 12:30 left on a backhander.
Florida tied the score 3-3 with 7:17 remaining in the third. Samsonov made perhaps his biggest mistake of the game as the puck fell out of his glove, and Luostarinen tapped in the easy rebound. Reinhart had the primary assist.
–Field Level Media
