A Brandon Montour goal on a two-against attack allowed the Florida Panthers to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday.
Thanks to this gain, the Panthers (81 pts) approach one point from the Pittsburgh Penguins (82 pts) who hold the last place available for the playoffs in the East among the teams drafted. In the standings, Florida has only been six days in a secure position to reach the playoffs since mid-November. The formation of Pennsylvania, however, has one more game to play.
The Panthers also end a four-game losing streak.
Montour completed an attack well initiated with Aleksander Barkov for his 14th of the season at 1:41 of extra time. In the previous moments, goalkeeper Alex Lyon has distinguished himself at least twice on golden chances for the Leafs.
This is the second time this season that Montour gives the victory to his team in overtime. In total, he was the author of five goals for the victory.
The Panthers were one goal behind when Sam Reinhart brought the two clubs back to square one on the power play with a minute to go as Florida retired their goaltender.
Anton Lundell reached the ten for the Panthers with a goal when the game was only 60 seconds old.
Auston Matthews beat Alex Lyon in the third period to make it 2-1, putting the Maple Leafs in a good position to earn the two points in the standings.
Down by one, goaltender Zach Aston-Reese tied Toronto at 1-1 at 3:13 of the second period, but was unable to score on a penalty shot. Less than a minute later, Calle Jarnkrok thought he had given Toronto the lead, but after his goal, officials ruled Matthews was in an offside position. Just before the verdict was announced, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice let out his frustration at his players behind the bench by yelling at them.
The Panthers will be back in action Thursday at the Bell Center against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Caps settle for a single point
The New York Islanders earned their first shootout victory of the campaign in six attempts, beating the Washington Capitals 2-1.
Bo Horvat first scored the team’s second shootout goal this season, while Kyle Palmieri scored the next.
On the other side, Ilya Sorokin yielded at the start in front of Evgeny Kuznetsov, before frustrating TJ Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom.
The Caps (34-32-9) don’t have much wiggle room left in their quest to clinch the second playoff draft ticket. With just seven games to go, they are five points behind the decisive place occupied by the Pittsburgh Penguins (36-28-10), who have a game in hand. The Islanders (39-28-9) remain in first place in the draft team race with 87 points.
After a lackluster first period in which the Islanders didn’t get a shot on net for 13:28, they still found a way to hit the target first on only their fifth shot of the game, in the second period. Pierre Engvall eluded the vigilance of Darcy Kuemper, who was too far back in his semi-circle, by shooting into the opening to his right.
Conor Sheary tied the game by scoring from the backhand from the slot.
In the end, Sorokin made 25 saves in the win, while Kuemper made 28 in his 350th career NHL start.
