SUNRISE, Fla. — The nightmare scenario for any postseason favorite — and the Florida Panthers will be one next month — is to run into the hot goaltender once the Stanley Cup playoffs begin.
The Panthers got a taste of what it might look like Tuesday when they ran into John Gibson and still they survived to beat the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2, in overtime.
When an offense is soaring like Florida’s has this year, even a spectacular goalie isn’t enough enough to totally derail a game.
The Panthers (52-15-6) needed more than 50 shots, a fluky second-period goal, a pair of power-play chances in the third and a trip to overtime, but they were able to pull out their 26th come-from-behind win of the season in front of 16,204 on Grateful Dead Night at FLA Live Arena.
What a long strange trip it was.
In the first period, Florida outshot the Ducks, 17-4, and still went into the first intermission down 1-0. In the second, the Panthers scored their only 5-on-5 goal when winger Anthony Duclair tried to make a centering pass from behind the net and had it inadvertently knocked into the goal by an Anaheim defender. Florida forced overtime with a power-play goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation, but the Panthers only finally came through when they got two chances in the span of 2:31.
They needed to catch a few breaks to beat Gibson and his Ducks. They also made it possible because of how dominant they were at possessing the puck and perpetually testing the scorching-hot goalie.
Florida is on pace to be the first team to average more than four goals per game since the 1995-96 NHL season, and the Panthers do it by commanding possession and threatening every time they get in transition. While Anaheim (29-33-12) limited Florida to just one rush attempt in regulation, the Panthers, who also lead the league in shots per game, set a new season high with 55 shots and All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau scored the game-winning goal with 1:19 left in the five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period after Gibson made four spectacular saves in the extra session to keep the game tied.
In all, it was a virtually flawless performance from Gibson, with each of Florida’s three goals coming via unusual circumstances. The first — Duclair’s first game-tying goal in the second period — came when he tried to pass to star center Aleksander Barkov from behind the net and Ducks defenseman Jame Drysdale accidentally deflected it through the unsuspecting goalie’s legs. The second — Duclair’s second game-tying goal in the third period — came on a power play after he stopped the six first power-play shots he faced.
Florida, however, was undaunted. The Panthers finished with a 55-24 advantage in shots on goal, never becoming so desperate on offense that they became leaky on the other end. Star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky saved 22 of 24, as Florida only gave up six high-danger chances and one of those chances was Anaheim’s first shot of the game. After the opening minutes, the Panthers cleaned up their defense, with the only other goal coming on a redirection.
The win, Florida’s eighth in a row in and 11th in 12 games, puts the Panthers into a tie with the Colorado Avalanche for the best record in the NHL albeit with one more game played than the Stanley Cup favorite. With nine games left in the regular season, Florida also now has an eight-point lead on the Carolina Hurricanes for the top seed in the Eastern Conference and a 10-point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division.
