Florida tied the game with under a minute left before winning in overtime
The Florida Panthers season got a major shot of adrenaline Wednesday night in Toronto.
A game-tying goal in the final minute and an overtime winner sent the Panthers into jubilation for the first time in what felt like forever.
When in a late-season playoff chase, nine days is an eternity.
The big star, the rock, the best player on the ice for Florida on Wednesday was goaltender Alex Lyon.
Called into duty at the last minute after Sergei Bobrovsky was ruled out of the game due to a non-COVID illness, Lyon made big save after big save, keeping the Panthers in the game they were, at times, badly outplayed.
Lyon finished with 38 saves on 40 Toronto shots, and Florida snapped a season-long four-game losing streak with the 3-2 overtime win.
The Panthers are now just one point behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second Wild Card Spot. Florida has seven games remaining while the Penguins have eight.
Both teams are in action tomorrow.
Florida will wrap up their Canadian road schedule in Montreal while Pittsburgh hosts a Nashville Predators team fresh off a huge win in Boston.
“We all know what the standings look like,” Lyon said after the game. “What do we have to lose? Really, why play scared? Why play nervous? This is what you play the game for, this time of year.”
FIRST PERIOD
The Panthers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game, and a bad turnover by the Leafs was the catalyst.
Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe passed tried getting the puck to John Tavares in the slot, but he couldn’t handle the pass with Eetu Luostarinen draped all over him.
Eetu quickly passed the puck right to Anton Lundell who was streaking down the slot. He fired a wrister past Samsonov to put Florida ahead a minute into the game.
There was a physical feel to the game from the early stages, with who else but Radko Gudas setting the tone.
It was right after a big hit by Gudas on Auston Matthews that Josh Mahura took an interference penalty to the side of Lyon’s crease.
A big glove save by Lyon on Alex Kerfoot during the penalty kill, and another point-blank on Michael Bunting right after it expired, kept the Panthers in front.
Florida got a late power play after Carter Verhaeghe was dragged down by Mitch Marner, but the Cats got very little zone time and gave up an odd-man rush.
Despite all that, Florida still took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Lyon stood on his head, making 15 saves during the opening frame.
SECOND PERIOD
Toronto got on the board on a great deflection by Zach Aston-Reese, who was left all alone in front of Lyon.
The Leafs nearly took a 2-1 lead moments later but the play was deemed offside after a challenge by Florida.
During the review, Paul Maurice could be seen screaming at his team on the bench.
Florida tightened things up a bit after that, but still couldn’t get much going offensively.
The Panthers finally registered a shot on goal with about 9:30 to go in the period when Ekblad had some room and moved down the right side of the Leafs zone but couldn’t get the puck past Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov.
The big moment of the period came a couple minutes later when Aston-Reese got behind the Panthers defense for a breakaway.
He was stopped by Lyon, but Montour slashed him from behind and a penalty shot was called.
Lyon proved to be equal to the task, squaring up Aston-Reese and giving him nothing to shoot at, ultimately getting a piece of the shot with his stick and deflecting it harmlessly toward the corner.
The Cats killed off a late power play, but an interference call on Ekblad in the final seconds meant Florida would be starting the third period down a man for the fourth time.
THIRD PERIOD
Florida killed off the penalty and got a couple shorthanded looks to boot, but Luostarinen and Montour both missed the net wide.
The Leafs took the lead on a play that came right after a draw in the Panthers zone. Marner found the puck in the corner and delivered it to Matthews at the top of the right circle. His blistering one-timer beat Lyon to give Toronto their first lead of the night.
The Panthers were unable to generate much in the period, including after a penalty on Marner with under eight minutes to go.
Not helping things was Marner getting loose on Lyon right out of the box, but he held the puck a bit too long and hit the post with nothing else to shoot at.
Florida’s best chance to tie the game came off a Leafs turnover that led to a clear cut 2-on-1. Anthony Duclair had the puck with speed and Barkov on his flank. The Duke took the shot but Samsonov came up with a nice glove save.
With Lyon on the bench in the final minutes, the man who replaced him, Verhaeghe, drew a hooking penalty on Mark Giordano by driving the net. Florida was gifted a power play with 2:20 to go.
Enjoying a 6-on-4 advantage, Reinhart got his blade on a blast by Ekblad and tied the game with 58.5 on the clock.
OVERTIME
Lyon with a huge windmill glove save on Matthews about 90 seconds into the extra frame.
Maurice then took his timeout in an attempt to settle down his club and give his top guys a chance to rest.
Off the timeout, a turnover by William Nylander led to Barkov and Montour getting an odd-man rush.
Barkov waited and waited, extending his arms to get the pass around Morgan Reilly’s stick and to a cutting Montour at the back post.
Montour made no mistake, sending a swarm of Panthers players over the boards to celebrate.
GAME NOTES
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