Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart remain red-hot for the Panthers, scoring huge late goals to help earn

Make it nine wins in a row for the Florida Panthers.

Fresh off a long, western road trip that they didn’t return to South Florida from until yesterday, the Comeback Cats clawed back into the game with a late tying goal and then beat the buzzer in overtime to collect two points and a ninth straight victory.

At the start, Florida did a good job playing the part of a team that just returned from couple weeks on the road.

They were outskated by the Kings out of the gate, falling behind 6:17 into the game on a goal by Trevor Moore that came on LA’s tenth shot of the period.

That woke the Panthers up. They’d end up outshooting the Kings 10-3 over the final 13-plus minutes of the opening frame, but the early story was the solid play of veteran goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Cam Talbot.

The Panthers would even things up just past the midway point of the game.

Sam Bennett tipped home a nice feed from Eetu Luostarinen, tying the game at one at the 10:58 mark of the middle frame.

A thin holding call late in the period on Aaron Ekbald would end up stinging the Panthers and their high-end penalty kill.

Just nine seconds into the PK, Drew Doughty blasted a shot from the point that squeezed between Bobrovsky’s right arm and body, fluttering into the net and putting the Kings back in front by a 2-1 margin.

That’s how the score would stay until late in the third period.

After a crucial penalty kill in the final minutes, Florida pulled Bobrovsky with about 2:30 to go and began to bear down on the Kings.

A shot by Carter Verhaeghe from inside the right circle was deflected by Matthew Tkachuk, who was perched on the doorstep, to tie the game at two and send it to overtime.

Midway through the overtime, the same sequence saw Pierre-Luc Dubios hit the post on one end and Tkachuk clank the iron on the other.

Despite Florida being granted a power play with about 90 seconds left thanks to a cross-check from Adrian Kempe, the Panthers were unable to generate much during the majority of the 4-on-3 advantage.

Just when it looked like the game was destined for a shootout, Sam Reinhart rescued us with a slick backhand goal that came with 0.7 seconds on the clock.

After being fed the puck in the corner, Reinhart recognized that the Kings penalty killers had backed off in anticipation of blocking a last-second pass, so he just went to the net, made sure to get a good angle and roof a backhand in the far corner.

Game. Set. Match.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Thursday’s matchup with Los Angeles:

Another game, another assist for Sasha Barkov, who had the primary on Reinhart’s overtime winner. He’s got 15 helpers over his past nine games.

Reinhart, meanwhile, is up to 30 goals and 53 points through 41 games so far this season.

Florida did give up a rare power play goal, but it was the only shot the Kings generated during their three man advantages.

Tkachuk now has seven goals over his past five games, with at least one goal in each. He’s also got 10 points over a seven-game streak.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson picked up an assist on Bennett’s goal. He’s on a nice little run, with five points over his past six games.

Verhaeghe extended his points streak to seven games, collecting 13 points over that span. 

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