Panthers clawed back from a two-goal deficit, only to be undone by a heart-stopping, last-second Wild goal.
The Florida Panthers played an inspired hockey game on Thursday night despite missing a couple handfuls of their regulars.
Florida battled back after falling into a 0-2 hole, the Panthers battled back to tie the game in the final minutes, only to see the Minnesota Wild pick up an extremely late goal to pick up the win.
Daniil Tarasov stood on his head during a scoreless first period, stopping all 19 Minnesota shots sent his way, including the six high-danger shots they got through.
Then the Wild scored on their first shot of the second period.
After fourth-line winger Yakov Trenin sped the Panthers’ zone, he cut to the net and sent a backhand pass to a cutting Marcus Foligno, who beat Tarasov five-hole at the 2:47 mark of the middle frame.
Former Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry picked up the second assist on the goal.
Minnesota made it 2-0 late in the period when Ryan Hartman picked up a loose puck behind Florida’s net and wrapped it around the far post with Tarasov still trying to recover from a previous save attempt.
The Panthers picked up their first goal of the game during the opening minute of the third period.
A long wrist shot by Gus Forsling from just inside Minnesota blue line was deflected by Matthew Tkachuk on its way past Jesper Wallstedt just 42 seconds into the final frame.
Florida kept it a one-goal game the rest of the way, until Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice pulled Tarasov for an extra attacker with 3:03 remaining.
With time ticking down, Seth Jones shoveled a pass to Aaron Ekblad in the left circle, and his one-timer sailed over Wallstedt’s blocker and into the net with just 1:13 on the clock.
Just when you thought the game was heading to overtime, Joel Eriksson Ek found the back of the net on a rebound with just 3.8 seconds on the clock.
Tarasov finished the game with a season-high 46 saves, 10 of which came on high-danger shots by Minnesota.
Evan Rodrigues, who played only one shift after leaving the game with an upper-body injury, was ruled out early in the second period.
Add him to Florida’s seemingly never-ending injury list.
On to New York.
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Photo caption: Mar 26, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) covers the puck from Minnesota Wild left wing Nick Foligno (71) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)