The Florida Panthers came up short on Thursday night in Sunrise, but not for lack of effort.
Florida, still playing without stars Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, took the visiting Vancouver Canucks to overtime, but fell short of picking up two points and lost by a score of 3-2.
Vancouver struck first on a play that wasn’t initially called a goal. Teddy Blueger carried the puck behind Florida’s net and wrapped it around Sergei Bobrovsky’s right post.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Bobrovsky stretched out and made the save, but replay showed the puck had just crossed over the goal line before Bob kicked it out of the net.
No worries though, as the Panthers responded just 11 seconds later.
Jesper Boqvist scored his first as a Panther on an assist from Mackie Samoskevich, his first NHL point, and just like that the game was tied again.
An icing call on Florida led to the next goal of the game.
Quinn Hughes blasted a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky’s blocker right off the ensuing faceoff, a play that Florida challenged after the puck went directly off Nils Aman’s glove and to directly to Danton Heinen, who then passed it up to Hughes at the point.
Florida challenged the call for a missed stoppage but the call on the ice stood, with the NHL ruling “the puck deflected off Nils Aman’s glove during the faceoff and, therefore, does not constitute a hand pass.”
A scary moment came shortly after when Sam Reinhart collided with Jake DeBrusk and went down hard, holding his left arm as he skated off the ice.
Reinhart went to Florida’s locker room for about 10 minutes but returned to the game and appeared no worse for the wear.
It took a little while, and a few big time saves by Bobrovsky, but the Cats finally found the equalizer.
With Florida on a late period power play, Anton Lundell carried the puck off the half boards and wired a wrist shot past Kevin Lankinen’s blocker and just inside the far post to send the game to the final frame tied at two.
Both goaltenders came up with some big saves during the third period, but no goals were scored, so the game would require more than 60 minutes.
A nice set play by Vancouver at the Panthers blue line sent in J.T. Miller with room on the right side, and he scored past Bob’s blocker to give the Canucks their first win of the season.
On to Vegas, Saturday in Sunrise.
QUICK THOUGHTS
This was Florida’s first overtime game of the season.
The Cats scored on their only power play attempt, improving their season numbers to 3-for-17.
They also went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and have now killed off 15 of their 17 power plays against.
Lundell has now scored goals in three straight games for the second time in his career.
Tuesday’s game was Eetu Luostarinen’s 300th in the NHL.
Reinhart is up to nine points in Florida’s first six games after picking up an assist on Lundell’s power play goal.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS – FLORIDA
Sasha Barkov resumes skating, targeting next week’s road trip for return
Panthers aim for third straight win without Barkov, Tkachuk as Canucks arrive in Sunrise
Matthew Tkachuk inspired Panthers tribute of Skittles, purple Gatorade to Johnny Gaudreau
Three takeaways: Spencer Knight shines during crunch time, Lundell line with Reinhart looks darn good
Panthers earn tough victory in Columbus on night dedicated to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau
