The Florida Panthers beat the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 3-2 on Thursday thanks to a dramatic winner by Carter Verhaeghe.

The Florida Panthers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday, beating the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 3-2 in overtime to earn their first Stanley Cup final win in franchise history and cut their series deficit down to two games to one. 

It’s amazing what some home cooking can do for a hockey team. The Panthers looked completely different than their Game 2 counterparts to start the game on Thursday night, kicking things off by controlling possession and moving the puck with ease in stark contrast to their putrid effort from Saturday.

Florida’s renewed aggression was rewarded early on, as a particularly dominant sequence of offensive zone puck movement saw Brandon Montour get the puck at the point and fire it through a sea of bodies past a screened Adin Hill. Not only did the goal put the Panthers up 1-0 less than four minutes into the period, but it gave Montrour his first point in 10 games, possibly sparking an offensive breakout. 

Vegas would even things up a little later, though, as the Panthers fell prey to some penalty trouble that thereby gifted the Golden Knights with a 4-on-3 power play in the late stages of the first. As Vegas moved the puck around the outside of the slot, Mark Stone positioned himself perfectly in front of Sergei Bobrovsky and deftly tipped a Jonathan Marchessault point shot into the back of the net to tie the game. 

Speaking of Marchessault, the former Panthers cast-off would continue his march to the Conn Smythe by breaking the deadlock late in the second period, taking advantage of what felt like the 10th Vegas power play of the frame to convert a beautifully placed one-timer and give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead. 

Leave it to the stars to shine in the biggest moments, though. 

The score would stay the same until roughly two minutes left in the third period. All hope appeared to be lost. The Panthers were losing, the crowd was silent, and time was running out. Bobrovsky had been pulled for the extra attacker. And that's when Matthew Tkachuk stepped up, as he always seems to do, bulldozing his way to the front of the net and banging home a loose puck into an empty cage to send FLA Live Arena into a frenzy. 

The Panthers might not have deserved it based on their play, but they managed to live to fight another period, forcing overtime and keeping their slight hopes alive. 

Five minutes into overtime, they'd keep their season alive, too. 

After killing off a horribly-timed penalty to start the extra frame, the Panthers were rejuvenated in their effort and managed to hold the Golden Knights off just long enough to create an odd-man rush. That's when Carter Verhaeghe entered the Vegas zone and proceeded to blow the roof off the building, beating Hill on a wiry shot from above the hash marks to win the game and give the Panthers their first Stanley Cup final victory in franchise history. 

With one win in the books, Florida pushed its way back into the series and is now one win away from heading back to Vegas with the series dead even. 

Needless to say, Saturday's contest will be a must-see event.