George Richards, FHN Publisher
Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his first hat trick of his NHL career Thursday but it was not enough to help the Florida Panthers pick up yet another victory as the Nashville Predators rallied for a 6-5 win in overtime Thursday.
The loss was the first outside of a shootout for the Panthers who have started their season 5-0-2.
Florida did keep its point streak alive, but still.
”That was a big turnaround, a big swing and I am definitely disappointed in the way it transpired,” said coach Joel Quenneville, whose team had a two-goal lead in the final two-plus minutes.
“I definitely think we can learn from it. But it is definitely disappointing.”
Huberdeau had been awarded Florida’s first and fifth goals of the game — but it took the NHL two tries to give him the team’s second.
That change came during the second intermission meaning Huberdeau had a hat trick without anyone really knowing about it.
The NHL changed Florida’s second goal of the game twice after initially awarding it to Markus Nutivaara, the guy who took the long shot which was deflected in front.
At first, the league determined it was Patric Hornqvist’s goal.
Then, during the second intermission while the two teams were in their locker rooms, they changed it again.
Jonathan Huberdeau’s long awaited hat trick celebration did not happen on the ice and he seemed like a guy ready to do anything but celebrate after Nashville crashed his party.
The two teams face off again Friday at 7.
“It just would have been nice to get a win. We should have won that one,” Huberdeau said. “We’ll go back at it tomorrow, but this is a tough one tonight.”
Huberdeau, the top pointman in franchise history, has come close to scoring three goals in a single game a number of times.
Thursday was his day although it did not end all that happily.
Huberdeau was all over the ice from the get, jumping on a loose puck at center ice and walking in on goalie Juuse Saros less than 90 seconds into the game.
With the score tied at 1, Hornqvist sent a pass from the end boards back to Nutivaara who let it fly from the top of the right circle. Huberdeau got a piece of it, apparently.
With Florida leading 4-2 in the second, Huberdeau picked off an errant puck in the zone, turned and fired a bullet past Saros.
He didn’t know that was No. 3 — the big hat goal — although he said he knew it would ultimately be given to him.
Huberdeau, for sure, knew whether or not he was the last to touch the puck on Nutivaara’s long shot.
”I knew the second one hit me,” he said. “It was a matter of time I guess.”
Florida remains the only team in the NHL which has not lost in regulation.
Sergei Bobrovsky got the start for the Panthers and was trying to become the first goalie in franchise history to start a season 4-0.
Not only did Huberdeau score three goals, but he had a hand in all five that Florida scored in the first two periods.
Nice night.
The Panthers, however, needed six.
It was also a pretty nice night for Barkov who passed Scott Mellanby for second on the franchise list for career goals with 158.
”It is always fun to see him scoring, to see him confident out on the ice,” Barkov said of Huberdeau.
”He is one of the most skilled players in the league. When he is playing with confidence, he can do anything on the ice. I was really happy for him to finally get the hat trick.”
First period highlights
The Panthers came out hopping, scoring a quick goal when Huberdeau jumped all over a loose puck off the wall at center ice and drove in on Saros.
Huberdeau’s unassisted goal came at 1:28 of the period and was his first goal since the season opener here three weeks ago.
After the two teams traded chances, Aleksi Heponiemi got called for the first penalty of the game and the Preds cashed in as Filip Forsberg fired a shot from the right circle past Bobrovsky to tie the score.
Florida came right back on a slap shot from Nutivaara which appeared to hit Huberdeau on its way home.
The Preds tied it again following a surge of Florida time in the offensive zone in which Barkov seemed to get off a half dozen shot attempts.
Only Nashville came back with the puck.
Bobrovsky was eying Forsberg who was carrying the puck through the zone when he slid a pass to Calle Jarnkrok who had slid down low and basically tapped the puck though.
Florida carried 5-on-5 play for much of the period but a few coverage mistakes — and a couple penalties — gave Nashville some good chances.
The shot board was tied at 14 through the first 20 with Nashville getting off seven more shot attempts (25-18) than Florida did.
Second period highlights
The second period belonged to Huberdeau — and the Florida power play.
Florida came into the second period with a lot of power play time left from the first and made good use of it as Ekblad knocked in a nice feed after an even nicer move from Barkov 54 seconds into the period.
Nashville tied it at 3 when Matt Duchene — who was briefly Bobrovsky’s teammate during Columbus’ go-for-it stand in 2018 — teed off on a pass from Forsberg.
The Panthers quickly retook the lead as their speed throughout the zone seemed to take over.
Florida got another power play chance at 7:53 and Barkov got his big goal eight seconds later as he blasted off on a pass from Huberdeau as he hung out below the right circle.
With just over four minutes left in the period, Nashville could not clear the puck out of its zone as Florida swarmed in.
Huberdeau ended up picking off a loose puck Forsbeerg was trying to get out of harms way, turned a fired a rocket from the slot to make it 5-3.
The Panthers went into the second break up 5-3 and continued to spend much of the 5-on-5 time in the Nashville zone.
Although the shots were tied again in the second, Florida got off eight more shot attempts (22-14) in the period.
Third period highlights
The biggest moment of the period came when the announcer told the crowd Huberdeau was getting credit for Florida’s second goal — giving him the first NHL hat trick of his career.
No ballcaps were seen hitting the ice from the socially-distanced crowd at BB&T Center.
Nashville thought it had pulled within a goal with 8:29 left after Nick Cousins thought he snuck one past Bobrovsky.
A quick review showed he hit the goal cage as he drove the net.
The game resumed with Florida holding its two-goal lead.
Nashville did chop into that, getting a goal from Roman Josi with 2:06 left to make it 5-4.
The Panthers challenged the call, claiming Duchene used a high-stick to push the puck back into the play but it was ruled good.
With Frank Vatrano serving the delay of game penalty after Florida lost the challenge, Nashville pulled their goalie giving them a 6-on-4 advantage.
”I didn’t see it live,” Quenneville said. “We looked at it and decided to go for it, thought it was over, thought it was a high stick. It is one of those situations where you take a little risk and it comes back to bite us. We’ll move forward and learn from that as well.”
With 56.8 seconds left, Duchene tied it as he camped out on the side of Bobrovsky and punched in a loose puck near the cage.
That goal forced yet another overtime game for the Panthers.
The Preds scored with a minute left in overtime as Forsberg got his second of the night.
”You know the risk of calling (the challenge) gives them a two-man advantage with the goalie out,” Quenneville continued.
“The penalty killing didn’t quite get out. … You would like to get though it. Hey, 6-on-5 would have been a challenge. Sometimes those comebacks against you are a learning curve. We could have played it better.”
Up Next: Nashville Predators at Florida Panthers
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise
TV/Radio: FSF/560-AM