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Comeback Cats Return?: Florida Panthers 4, Boston Bruins 3 (OT)

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The Florida Panthers grabbed victory from the hands of defeat with a game-tying goal from Sasha Barkov with 2.4 seconds to go in regulation.



Florida finished off its first third-period comeback of the season with an overtime winner from Sam Reinhart as it beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Saturday night.

The Panthers, who came into the night 0-17-1 after trailing through two periods, broke their spell against a Bruins team that was 26-0-1 when leading after 40 minutes of play.

They overcame multiple self-inflicted wounds to get it done, but they were able to scrape by against a Boston team that became the fastest team in NHL history to 80 points in a season just two days earlier.

Florida is now the first team to beat Boston twice this season.

Sam Bennett tied the game for the Panthers in the third period after giving the Bruins the lead with an own goal in the second period.

David Pastrnak appeared to give Boston the win with 48 seconds left but the Panthers’ captain and All-Star came through for them when they needed him the most.

Alex Lyon came through with 37 saves on 40 shots in his sixth-straight appearance for the Panthers.

After being Florida’s AHL goalie for the majority of the season, Lyon got the call when Sergei Bobrovsky went down with a lower-body injury two minutes into last Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.

He came in and stopped 23 of 25 shots and had to start the next five games afterward with neither Bobrovsky or Spencer Knight ready to go.

With both goalies likely to return after the All-Star Break, Lyon ends his first NHL stint in Florida with a 3-2-1 record — a respectable record for a goalie who had played in just 24 games prior.

THE GOALS OF THE GAME

  • Bruins 1, Panthers 0 (16:50, 1st): Craig Smith took advantage of a Brandon Montour turnover and scored on a wide-open shot from the slot.
  • Panthers 1, Bruins 1 (8:55, 2nd): Montour deflected a Sasha Barkov shot past Jeremy Swayman to tie the game.
  • Bruins 2, Panthers 1 (17:55, 2nd): Sam Bennett bats a Charlie Coyle shot into his own net.
  • Panthers 2, Bruins 2 (8:29, 3rd): Bennett ties the game back up with a wrist shot from the slot off of a feed from Radko Gudas.
  • Bruins 3, Panthers 2 (19:12, 3rd): David Pastrnak beat Alex Lyon with a shot from the top of the slot.
  • Panthers 4, Bruins 3 (19:58, 3rd): Barkov picked up a bounce off of a sprawled out Brandon Carlo and put it past Swayman.
  • Panthers 4, Bruins 3 (0:17, OT): Sam Reinhart beat Swayman with a one-timer off of a feed from Barkov.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING

With his second period goal, Brandon Montour extended his franchise-record point streak to nine games, the most by a Panthers defenseman. He has two goals and nine points in that span.

Sasha Barkov extended his career-long point streak to 11 games with an assist on Montour’s goal. He has five goals and 17 points since starting his streak.

MR. 600

Sasha Barkov became the second player in franchise history to score 600 points with his assist on Sam Reinhart’s overtime winning goal.

He trails only Jonathan Huberdeau, who finished his Panthers career at 613 points in 671 games before getting traded to the Calgary Flames this offseason.

Barkov is the fastest player in franchise history to get to 600 career points, doing so in 637 games in Sunrise.

COLBY’S THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Sasha Barkov, Florida (goal, two assists, 600 points)

2. Sam Reinhart, Florida (overtime goal)

3. Alex Lyon, Florida (37 saves)

FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK

ALL-STAR WEEKEND, SOUTH FLORIDA

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