If the Dallas Stars wanted to make a statement with the Florida Panthers in town Tuesday night, well, mission accomplished.
Oops.
The Panthers were the ones making a statement in north Texas, rallying from a three-goal deficit to beat the Stars 4-3.
Florida has won eight of its past nine and 18 of its past 21.
And this was not against one of the league’s bottom-feeders, either. Dallas came into the night with five straight wins and were just three points back of the NHL-leading Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky appeared to be a goalie on an island for much of the night, with Dallas peppering the Florida backstop insestantly.
Bobrovsky’s 12-game run of allowing two goals or fewer came to an end in the second period when Dallas scored twice within a span of 23 seconds in the second period to go up 3-0.
Things looked bleak for the Panthers.
Florida looked off from the get, with Dallas getting 10 rush chances in the opening period — with Joe Pavelski opening the scoring 3:53 on a 2-on-none run up the ice.
Bobrovsky was absolutely fantastic in the first, and throughout the game.
Down 3-0, Florida first found the scoreboard with Mason Marchment in the box. Sasha Barkov fed Sam Reinhart in the slot and his fluttering shot found its way past Jake Oettinger.
Florida cut it to 3-2 with 8:51 left in the third, Carter Verhaeghe flying one from the top of the left circle over the glove of Oettinger for the second power goal of the night for the Panthers.
With six minutes left, Matthew Tkachuk fired a shot from the blue line with traffic in front — and Sam Bennett appeared to knock the puck through.
With all of the momentum in their corner, Tkachuk drew a penalty with Barkov rifling a shot from the right circle to give the Panthers their first lead of the night with 5:42 left.
GOALS OF THE GAME
- Stars 1, Panthers 0 (3:53, 1st): A snafu in the neutral zone leads to a two-man rush for Dallas with Joe Pavelski firing one in off Sergei Bobovsky’s leg and in.
- Stars 2, Panthers 0 (7:48, 2nd PP): Jason Robertson gets a puck off a deflected pass from Pavelski which went off Gus Forsling’s stick.
- Stars 3, Panthers 0 (8:11, 2nd): Wyatt Johnson gets down low, deflects a Mason Marchment shot past Bobrovsky.
- Stars 3, Panthers 1 (12:52, 2nd PP): Sasha Barkov at the cage feeds Sam Reinhart in the slot and, yeah, No. 46.
- Stars 3, Panthers 2 (11:09, 3rd PP): Carter Verhaeghe lets one fly from 40 feet out and pulls Florida within a goal.
- Panthers 3, Stars 3 (14:00, 3rd): Matthew Tkachuk fires a shot from the point into traffic and Sam Bennett deflects it.
- Panthers 4, Stars 3 (14:18, 3rd PP): Barkov rips one from the right circle with Tkachuk down low and the Panthers have the lead for the first time.
GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
1. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida
2. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida
3. Sasha Barkov, Florida
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