Panthers Stop Skid at Home Against Penguins in Shootout

The beleaguered Florida Panthers topped the Pittsburgh Penguins in a shootout at home after a long, mostly unsuccessful road trip.

The first period of this game wasn’t much to write home about, especially considering the absences (Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, and Dmitry Kulikov) in the Cats’ roster at the moment. Despite Sam Reinhart putting the Panthers on his back by netting the opening goal of the contest, the Penguins—more specifically, Bryan Rust—responded twice to head into the first intermission ahead by a single goal, courtesy of Rust’s one-handed poke-check of a goal.

The Panthers came out swinging in the second period, though the surge quickly had cold water poured on it courtesy of a few missed assignments by third-pairing stand-ins Uvis Balinskis and Tobias Bjornfot. The Penguins netted another goal to bring the score to 3-1, and Reinhart backpacked the Panthers again with his second goal of the evening. The second frame finished in short order with the Pens up 3-2.

The Cats yet again came out in the third period guns a-blazing and battled back to tie the game with a beauty of a one-timer by Anton Lundell via an even more beautiful feed from Eetu Luostarinen. Pens’ netminder Tristan Jarry was sharp for the remainder of the game, stopping a gorgeous cross-crease chance by Gustav Forsling. Sam Bennett went down this period as well after blocking a clearing attempt with his knee. He returned to the bench by the end of the period as the clock in the final frame wound down to zero with the score still even at 3-3.

The overtime period, much like the rest of this tilt, was filled to the brim with back-and-forth action. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall against a few chances early on, as did Jarry. Neither team budged as the overtime period ended with total shots on goal throughout the contest in favor of the Panthers, 30-28.

In the ensuing shootout, Aleksander Barkov stymied Jarry in the first round with a deft backhand goal as Bobrovsky’s left pad kept Rickard Rakell out despite a solid forehand chance in close. The second round saw Jarry stand tall against Lundell as he attempted a similar move to Barkov’s. Sidney Crosby’s five-hole attempt was subsequently stopped by Bobrovsky at the other end. Up next, Reinhart’s shot pinged off Jarry’s crossbar. Rust’s ensuing turn in the third round was kept out by Bobrovsky’s left skate, sealing the deal for the Cats’ win and marking a swift end to the one-game backslide.