*Photo from Fox News*
You can just keep on calling them the comeback cats, because they just keep coming back. Sam Reinhart scored, Aaron Ekblad tallied the winner, and the Florida Panthers rallied to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday night in Raleigh.
Playing for the first time since a February 1 loss to the New York Rangers, the Panthers played like it early on. But they consistently got better as the game progressed, outshooting the Hurricanes 22-8 in the final two periods, tying the game with less than a minute left in regulation, and scoring quickly into overtime to complete a comeback.
Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette said that "Coming off that break, it was a grinding game and we were very ready to grind. We probably didn't have our best game with the puck, but I thought we did a lot of the right things. We defended in packs, we kept them a little bit to the outside and we had energy."
The only goal of the first period came from Teuvo Teravainen, scoring his 12th goal of the season with 46 seconds left in the period, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Aleksander Barkov then tied the game 1-1 with his 22nd goal of the year, coming 13:09 into the second period, assisted by Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau.
In the 3rd period, the Hurricanes took the lead back, going ahead 2-1 when Tony DeAngelo scored his 9th goal of the season, 3:13 into the 3rd period. Reinhart then tied it for the Panthers with 49 seconds left in regulation, with his 17th goal of the season forcing overtime. Ekblad then scored just 16 seconds into overtime to seal the comeback win.
Asked about the winning goal, Ekblad said that it was a "great pass. It was still in the air when it went by me, so I tried to reach out and catch it. I truly have absolutely no idea what to do on breakaways, so I just tried to slow down a little bit and make a move, and I think it just trickled in."
Both teams went with the clear number one goaltender to start. For the Panthers, it was Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a solid game in net. His .889 save percentage is deceiving, he didn't have a high shot volume. Bobrovsky saved 16 out of the 18 shots he saw from the Hurricanes, who got 10 of the 18 shots in the first period. With the win, Bobrovsky's record improved to 24-4-3 in 33 starts this season.
For the Hurricanes, the number one was Frederik Andersen, who had a good start himself. Andersen turned aside 28 of the 31 shots on goal from the Panthers, taking the loss despite better numbers. His .903 save percentage ultimately wasn't enough, as his record drops to 25-7-2 in 33 starts and two relief outings.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said that "You've got to give them credit, they put the gas on. It's disappointing, but the better team won tonight. It's no question. We had a good couple looks right away. In the first 20 seconds we had three chances, then we got cute. All you had to do was keep shooting the puck. Instead, we looked for something pretty. It doesn't work."
The Hurricanes remain at home for a Friday night matchup against the Nashville Predators, with Andersen likely to start in net. The Panthers hit the road on Friday to face the Minnesota Wild, with Bobrovsky as the likely starter.
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