Florida Panthers Comeback Effort Thwarted in 5-4 OT Loss to Pittsburgh Penguins

The Florida Panthers made their first third-period comeback of the year, but couldn’t get the job done after falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime.

The Florida Panthers clawed their way back from a second-period deficit for the first time all season on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh but could not finish the job.

Powered by a four-point night from Matthew Tkachuk, the Panthers erased a three-goal deficit in the third period just for Bryan Rust to sink them in overtime to give the Penguins a 5-4 victory.

It was a weird one for Florida.

The Panthers led 24-10 in shots through the first two periods, they were swarming the Penguins in their own zone at times but just couldn’t seem to get anything past Tristan Jarry at that point.

And in the limited amount of chances they gave up on their end, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

“It was alright. I think that was how we felt about it,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think we gave up a whole lot. I don’t think we took advantage of some things we normally do. I’m not 100 percent sure how I feel about that one.

“We gave up five shots a period, but we were still down 4-1. I like the fact that the bench didn’t change. They felt alright about their game in terms of us getting in the right direction, put up a bunch, didn’t give up a whole lot, but you don’t like to lose.”

Florida almost started the game off with the lead — with Jesper Boqvist beating Jarry with a wrist shot from the top of the circle 8:26 into the game — but it was taken off the board after a quick review following an offside challenge from Pittsburgh.

The Panthers looked deflated for the next two minutes and the Penguins took full advantage.

Less than a minute after the disallowed goal, Owen Pickering fired a wrist shot from the point through heavy traffic to give Pittsburgh the lead with his first NHL goal. Evgeni Malkin doubled that lead 1:32 later after a slick touch pass from Philip Tomasino left him wide open.

Tkachuk brought the Panthers back within a goal with 2:36 to go in the first — wiring home a wrist shot after Aleksander Barkov teed him up for it — but that was it for a while for Florida.

Kris Letang picked up a wacky bounce off the boards and fired a wide-angle wrist shot past Spencer Knight 6:54 into the second period to extend their lead to 3-1. And all the Panthers could do is continue to press offensively and chase for goals.

And they still did not come before Marcus Petersson walked past Jesper Boqvist while driving to the net on his backhand before roofing the puck into the top right corner to make it a three-goal game 3:45 into the third period.

Then, the Panthers finally started catching their breaks.

Sam Bennett started the comeback effort 6:55 into the third, wiring home a feed from Jesper Boqvist from the slot. Then, Adam Boqvist picked up his second goal in as many games — and his first goal assisted by his brother — 2:08 later.

Tkachuk put the finishing touches on the comeback with 9:33 to go when he deflected an Aaron Ekblad point shot down to himself and jammed home the power play marker to tie the game.

Bryan Rust made that comeback effort moot on the lone shot of overtime, beating Knight with a quick shot on a 2-on-1 rush 1:31 in.

“We were pressing pretty good in the third and we found a way to put some in, which is nice,” Tkachuk said. “It really doesn’t mean much unless you finish it, but if you told us at 4-1 if you’d take the point, we’d take it.”

It was the first point the Panthers earned all season in a game where they trailed through 40 minutes, improving their record in that situation to 0-8-1. It also extended their point streak to four games, despite snapping their three-game winning streak.

What the Panthers can hang their hat on is that they looked like a different team than the one that got rolled in six of seven emotionless efforts coming into that three-game winning streak.

They played their game, dealt with some bad bounces and came out with some fire in the third period while sticking to their style of hockey. In a game against a team that came into the night tied for last in the Metropolitan Division where their usual brand of emotion needs to be manufactured, it was a solid effort.

Florida now sits deadlocked with the Toronto Maple Leafs for first in the Atlantic Division at 32 points as they head to Philadelphia to complete a quick two-game road trip on Thursday.

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