Carter Verhaeghe’s OT winner gives Panthers 3-2 win to get back into series

“You aren’t in trouble until you win at home” is the classic saying in hockey, and the Florida Panthers found themselves in that same situation in Game 3, down 2-0 in the series but still plenty of runway with two games at home. The Vegas Golden Knights made it tough like always, but the Panthers scrapped away with the 3-2 win, needing overtime to win their first Stanley Cup Final game in franchise history and cut the series lead in half.

The Panthers were going to need the first goal if they wanted to avoid anything like what they dealt with in Game 2, and they got just that only 4:08 onto the first period. Brandon Montour’s wrist shot from the point beat Adin Hill to open the scoring, giving the new father his first goal and point since Game 1 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

However, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses for the Panthers in the game. First, they took a big hit to the lineup, with Matthew Tkachuk getting lit up by Keegan Kolesar and leaving the game for a while. And then on a 4-on-3 power play late in the first, the Golden Knights tied up the game, as a Jonathan Marchessault one-timer got deflected in front by Mark Stone.

The Golden Knights carried that momentum into the second period, getting plenty of chances but still struggling to beat Sergei Bobrovsky for most of the frame. It wasn’t until about five minutes to go when they finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead, with Jack Eichel making a nifty cross-seam pass to Marchessault for the one-timer goal, which would tie him with Leon Draisaitl for the most goals in the playoffs with 13.

It seemed like Vegas was going to hold on and win with their play in the third, limiting the chances and getting a few of their own to extend the lead, but with 2:13 left in the game, Matthew Tkachuk came up clutch again, as he was perfectly positioned in the crease for a rebound off of a Carter Verhaeghe slapshot to tie the game.

And we only needed 4:27 to decide a winner and make it a series again. Verhaeghe threw the puck on net as the Panthers were just entering the offensive zone, and it beat hill to give Florida the 3-2 win in overtime, and cut Vegas’ series lead in half at 2-1.

Stone and Marchessault both had multi-point games with a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights, while Tkachuk and Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist for the Panthers. Bobrovsky was the biggest reason this game stayed close, stopping 25 of the 27 shots he faced in the win for Florida. They’ll look to keep using their home ice advantage and tie the series in Game 4 on Saturday night.