Florida wrapped up their crucial seven-game homestand 5-1-1
A game that started on a Florida Panthers positive would also end on one, with some stressful moments in-between.
Carter Verhaeghe ringing the post 10 seconds in seemed like a good sign that Florida was still feeling some of the offensive juju from their nine-goal effort against Montreal on Thursday.
It didn’t quite turn out that way, at least not through the first two periods.
Four third period tallies erased a two-goal deficit and gave the Panthers their latest big two points with a 4-2 win over the Devils.
For the moment, the win moved Florida to within one point of both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, who hold the two Wild Card positions.
At the time of this writing, Pittsburgh trailed the New York Rangers 5-0 midway through the game and the Islanders play later in the evening at San Jose.
FIRST PERIOD
This game brought one of the best starts by the Panthers in recent memory. They were outshooting Devils 7-1 through the game’s first eight minutes, and that doesn’t include Verhaeghe’s opening shift clanker.
Swarming offensively, only New Jersey tendy Akira Schmid’s amazing play keeping Devils from falling into an early hole.
He’s a big goalie that knows how to use his size (he’s listed at 6-foot-5, 205 lbs.) while limiting movement, and he's been good on rebounds.
The Panthers, meanwhile, had their collective feet moving. They defended New Jersey very tightly, not giving Devils much room in either the neutral zone or Florida's zone
Verhaeghe took a late holding penalty but strong PK work by Sasha Barkov and Eetu Luostarinen kept the game scoreless through the first twenty minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
This was a much more evenly played period than the first, but one goalie was better than the other and that ultimately was the difference.
The Panthers received an early power play, but just as three players pressured the puck behind Schmid’s net, it was shot up the boards and bounced over Brandon Montour’s stick at the blue line.
That sent the Devils on a shorthanded 2-on-1 and Nico Hischier wired a shot from the bottom of the left circle that went under Bob’s glove and beat his pad to make it 1-0 for the visitors.
About five minutes later, a wild sequence around Florida’s net started with a shot from the point that rung the left goalpost. That led to a rebound chance that was stopped by Marc Staal’s face (really it was) and then finally, a second Devils goal that beat Bob on the blocker side.
Florida got another two power plays during the later stages of the period but couldn’t capitalize on either, and really didn’t generate much other than a lot of perimeter passing.
THIRD PERIOD
After the game, Matthew Tkachuk said the message between the second and third periods was a simple one: “Just be calm.”
The Devils started the final frame looking to go into lockdown mode, clogging up the middle of the ice in their own end while doing a good job of aggressively trying to trap the neutral zone.
Paul Maurice switched things up and promoted Sam Reinhart to the top line with Barkov and Luostarinen, a move that would pay off nicely in short order.
Florida finally got the break it was looking for, though at the detriment, again, of Marc Staal’s cranium.
Just a few feet away from where he took a shot off the face in the second period, Staal was again hit by a shot, this time from his own teammate (Brandon Montour), but the puck took a friendly bounce right to Barkov’s stick, who made no mistake.
Exactly 100 seconds later, with Florida back on the power play, Sam Reinhart got his blade on a Montour point shot to tie the game at two.
FLA Live Arena was still rocking and rolling when just 50 seconds later, a great passing sequence went from Florida’s end to the top of the Devils’ crease, from Radko Gudas to Verhaeghe to Matthew Tkachuk on the doorstep.
Chucky beat Schmid to put the Panthers ahead for the first time, and the building erupted.
Three goals in two minutes and 30 seconds. Just like that.
Sergei Bobrovsky was called upon several times during the final minutes, with at least one save, possibly two, coming directly off his helmet. It was just one of those nights where the pucks were finding peoples heads.
Thanks to Bob's late heroics, Florida held firm on its lead until the now-scalding hot Reinhrart added an empty netter with 20.3 to go, sealing the victory for the home team.
QUICK HITS
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