The Florida Panthers are on the board in the Stanley Cup Final after their 3-2 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.
However, as much as the Panthers have to celebrate with their comeback win, they still trail the best-of-seven series 2-1 and are aware of the importance of following it up with another victory when they host Game 4 on Saturday.
“That’s a big momentum game for us,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, whose late third-period goal forced overtime, told Sportsnet. “Now we’ve just got to win one more game.”
Carter Verhaeghe unloaded a long shot from just inside the blue line that found the mark at 4:27 of overtime to cap a back-and-forth affair. It was his seventh of the playoffs and his fourth career overtime winner.
“We had to find a way,” said Verhaeghe, who added an assist.
With his team on the verge of falling behind 3-0 in the series, Tkachuk — who missed most of the first period because the concussion spotter pulled him from the game after the forward was on the receiving end of a hard check — scored yet another clutch goal.
Tkachuk buried a loose puck with 2:13 remaining in regulation while goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled for an extra attacker.
“Probably the gutsiest win I’ve ever been a part of,” said Tkachuk, who notched a franchise-record 11th goal of the playoffs and added an assist. “Proud of the team. We’re not done yet.”
Brandon Montour also scored for the Panthers and Bobrovsky made 25 shots in a strong performance. Bobrovsky’s biggest stop came on a third-period attempt from Michael Amadio while Vegas held a 2-1 lead.
The Panthers recorded their first ever Stanley Cup Final win. They were swept in their only other appearance, 1996 against the Colorado Avalanche.
Mark Stone and Jonathan Marchessault both collected one goal and one assist for Vegas. Goaltender Adin Hill made 20 saves.
The Panthers have a 7-0 overtime record during this year’s playoff run. The Golden Knights, who own a 3-2 OT mark this spring, are doing what they can to take the loss in stride.
“Give them credit,” center Jack Eichel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “They stuck around, they found a goal at the end, and then they win in overtime. Obviously you don’t want to blow a lead when you’re up a goal with a few minutes left, but it’s all part of it. Nobody says it was going to be easy.”
Montour opened the scoring at 4:02 of the first period, with his seventh goal of the playoffs giving him 10 postseason points, a franchise single-season record.
Stone tied the clash with a deflection at 16:03 of the first period for his eighth goal of the playoffs, and Marchessault netted his team’s second power-play goal of the night at 14:59 of the second period to give Vegas a 2-1 lead.
It was the fourth goal of the series and 13th of the playoffs for Marchessault, who was claimed by Vegas from Florida in the 2017 expansion draft.
Vegas has scored two power-play goals in all three games in the finals, while the Panthers are 0-for-12 with the man advantage.
“I thought we played a pretty solid game. Could’ve put them away,” Stone said. “That’s the playoffs. We’ve got to bounce back and be ready for the next one.”
–Field Level Media
