SUNRISE, Fla. — A loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday would’ve been a disaster for the Florida Panthers — who are scrapping hard just to get into the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and can hardly afford to lose to anyone, let alone the worst team in the NHL on home ice — and yet there they were with six minutes to go, down by a goal in Sunrise. After erasing one two-goal lead in the second period, the Panthers needed one more comeback in the third to avoid their worst loss of the season.
With one tip-in by Ryan Lomberg and an overtime game-winner by Carter Verhaeghe, Florida escaped with a 4-3 win and, at least for a moment, moved back into playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
The win, the Panthers’ 13th in 22 games, vaulted Florida past the New York Islanders for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and guaranteed the Panthers will end Presidents’ Day at least tied for a wild card.
It also came at the start of one of the most pivotal months of Florida’s season. The Panthers’ win came in the first of 10 straight games in Florida — 9 of 10 are at home and the only road game is Feb. 28 against the Tampa Bay Lightning — and they hope this long, two-part homestand will let them head into the final month of the season in position to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Ducks, who have the fewest points in the NHL, were the perfect team to start with, although Florida couldn’t take advantage. Despite peppering Anaheim goaltender John Gibson with 14 shots in the first period, the Panthers went into the first intermission down 2-0, trudging back to the locker room to a smattering of boos from the 16,525 who decided to spend their day off at FLA Live Arena. The Ducks scored first with 8:14 left in the first period when Florida whiffed on several chances to clear a puck away from the front of the net and rookie forward Mason McTavish ripped a rebound past star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, then went up 2-0 less than four minutes later when Anaheim winger Frank Vatrano, making his return to Broward County after Florida traded him away last season, scored on a power play off another rebound.
FloThe Panthers were in danger of suffering a third loss in four games — with two against teams almost certain to miss the Cup playoffs — until a series of unlikely heroes emerged.
With 17:48 left in the second period, forward Eric Staal finally got the Panthers on the board. Defenseman Radko Gudas fired a shot through traffic from above the right faceoff circle and Staal got just enough of the puck to tap it past Gibson. The six-time All-Star pumped his right fist and yelled to celebrate the rally-starting goal and then he nearly cashed in on a few more chances as the period went along.
The 38-year-old Canadian — the oldest player on the team — finished with four shots in 15:30.
The game-tying goal, with 2:37 left in the second, was even more unlikely. Defenseman Marc Staal only scored his first goal of the season Thursday, on a long slap shot through traffic against the Washington Capitals. For his second, the the 36-year-old Canadian — the second oldest player on the team — wound up running a 2-on-1 break with Mathew Tkachuk and finished off a pass from the All-Star right wing to knot the score at 2-2.
