RECAP: Florida Panthers 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 3 (SO)
The Florida Panthers remain atop the Atlantic Division after making a third-period comeback against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers gutted out a 4-3 shootout victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins after making a late third-period comeback.
Aleksander Barkov scored the lone goal in the shootout while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all three shots he faced to seal the victory.
Anton Lundell tied the game up with 5:31 to go to force overtime, blasting a one-timer past Tristan Jarry for his 16th goal of the season.
Sam Bennett took a puck to the inside of his knee 5:17 into the third period and returned to the game, but played sparingly late in the third period. He did not take a shift in overtime.
Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 28 shots to help Florida snap a skid of four losses in its past six games.
The Panthers remain atop the Atlantic Division at 89 points, two points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs with one fewer game remaining on their schedule.
Sam Reinhart opened the scoring with 8:35 to go in the first period, beating Jarry with a wrist shot from the slot.
Bryan Rust tied the game up 2:55 later, beating Bobrovsky with a backhander on the power play. He struck again with 33.7 seconds to go in the first, deflecting a saucer pass from Sidney Crosby past Bobrovsky to make it 2-1.
Florida was thoroughly outplayed in the first period, getting outshot 16-4 and trailing 10-4 in scoring chances and 6-0 in high-danger chances per Natural Stat Trick.
Evgeni Malkin extended Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-1 with another power play goal 6:51 into the second period. He blasted a one-timer off a feed from Rust for his 15th goal of the season.
Reinhart scored his second goal of the night 9:25 into the second period. He fired a wrist shot off of a feed from Aleksander Barkov past Jarry on the power play to make it a 3-2 game.
Florida pushed heavily in the third period, outshooting Pittsburgh 12-3 and eventually finding the equalizer from Lundell with 5:31 to go.
The Panthers will return to action after a four-day break on Friday night against the Utah Hockey Club.