Florida was down 4-2 heading into the third period before forcing the game to overtime

The Florida Panthers made a valiant comeback after falling behind in Game 4, but couldn’t ultimately finish the job.

Florida clawed back from a two-goal third period deficit before a smooth deflection off a faceoff ended the Panthers hopes of re-taking a lead in the conference final and gave the Rangers a 5-4 win in Game 3.

An early Panthers power play, thanks to a Brandon Schneider delay of game penalty, led to the game’s opening goal.

Sam Reinhart picked up a quick pass from Sasha Barkov in the corner and drove straight to the net, backhanding the puck under the blocker of Igor Shesterkin to put the Cats up 1-0 at the 2:50 mark.

The Rangers responded quickly a few minutes later, as Alexis Lafreniere and Barclay Goodrow snapping a pair of goals past Sergei Bobrovsky just 25 seconds apart.

Florida scored a second power play goal late in the period, and once again it was off a Reinhart backhand.

This time, Reinahrt started the play by blocking a clearing attempt, then his backhand shot went off the skate of Jacob Trouba and through Shesterkin’s legs to tie the game at two.

A strong middle frame for the visiting team was capped off by a pretty goal off the stick of Lafreinere after he made a nice move around Dmitry Kulikov and backhanded the puck past Bobrovsky.

Things went from bad to worse for the Panthers when Goodrow slammed a shorthanded goal past Bobrovsky with 1:46 to go in the second.

It came after what appeared to be an elbow to the head of Evan Rodrigues from Trouba was reviewed for a major penalty but deemed a two-minute minor.

An excellent shift by Panthers captain Sasha Barkov led to Florida cutting the Rangers lead in half. Barkov pried the puck out from underneath Shesterkin to extend an offensive zone shift, then moments later deflected a Verhaeghe shot into the net while standing on the doorstep with just under 15 minutes to go.

Less than two minutes later, Gus Forsling sent the Amerant Bank Arena crowd into a frenzy when he snapped a shot past Shesterkin’s glove right off a faceoff in the Rangers zone.

Ultimately, the Rangers would come out on top with a deflection goal by Alex Wennberg after an overtime session that had been dominated by Florida.

It’s a tough pill for the Cats to swallow, but they get a shot at redemption on Tuesday night in Sunrise.

On to Game 4.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Game 3 against the Rangers:

Florida’s penalty kill remained perfect in the series, up to 8-for-8 against the Rangers after killing off both New York power plays on Sunday.

Two of the four regulation goals scored by the Panthers were on the power play.

Reinhart’s goals were his first of the series. He’s up to seven goals and 11 points through 14 playoff games.

Barkov had gone four games without a point before logging a goal and an assist in Game 3. He’s up to six goals and 15 points during the postseason.

Tkachuk logged a pair of assists, including the primary helper on Forsling’s game-tying goal in the third, to bump his playoff total to 18 points through 14 games.

Verhaeghe is up to six points over a four-game point streak after logging a pair of assists in Game 3.

Forsling now has two goals and three points over his past four games. 

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Panthers look to defend home ice as conference final shifts to South Florida

Panthers penalty kill has been major strength of team's playoff run

Three takeaways: Panthers withstood Rangers' push, take split back to Sunrise

Rangers square series with 2-1 overtime win over Panthers in Game 2

The Hockey Show: Talking conference finals, hockey history with Stan Fischler