Cats score 5 unanswered goals to stun Devils
Florida Panthers defensemen Ben Chiarot admitted his team was “sleepy” early in Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. start. But then they woke up. And then they served the New Jersey Devils a nightmare that they will not soon forget.
How else to explain the Panthers’ 7-6 win? The Panthers trailed 6-2 with 15 minutes left before roaring back with five straight goals, including the one by Gustav Forsling to win it with 3:15 left in overtime.
“That’s a big one for us,” Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “Coming back like that doesn’t happen too often,”
Indeed, it was the first time all season that the Panthers have won a game while allowing five or more goals.
The Panthers (47-15-6) reached 100 points and tied the franchise record for single-season wins, which was first set in 2015-2016. The Panthers had a franchise-record 103 points that year, a mark the current group has 14 games to obliterate.
On Saturday, Florida trailed 6-2 in the third period before getting goals from Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling. Brunette then decided to pull goalie Spencer Knight for an extra attacker.
That gamble paid off with two goals by Aleksander Barkov — one with 4:37 left and the second with 1:24 remaining. That tied the score, 6-6.
Forsling then scored on the rush to end the game in favor of the Panthers, the highest-scoring team in the NHL.
“It’s hard to explain,” Forsling said of the Panthers’ ability to rally. “You get a lot of energy. Everyone’s going, and it’s a lot of fun. I can say that, yeah.”
Five of Florida’s goals were scored by its defensemen, including two by Forsling and one each from Chiarot, Radko Gudas and Montour. It was Chiarot’s first goal with the Panthers, who acquired him from Montreal at the trade deadline.
“No matter who we have back there, we can create offense,” Brunette said. “We have some mobile defensemen who can move the puck and get up and join the rush. They have pretty good shots, too.”
Yegor Sharangovich led New Jersey with his first career hat trick, and Andrew Hammond stopped 34 shots in his Devils debut.
The Devils also got goals from Jack Hughes, Janne Kuokkanen and Andreas Johnsson.
Hammond made just his ninth start in the past three years. It was his second career game against the Panthers, a team he beat 4-1 on Feb. 21, 2015.
This season, Hammond, 34, is 3-0-1 despite being traded twice – by the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens. He was activated off the injury list (lower body) on Saturday, becoming the seventh goalie used by the Devils this season, a new franchise record.
Florida, which can clinch a playoff berth by winning at the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky after two periods. He made 19 saves but allowed all six goals.
Knight earned the win, stopping all six shots he faced.
The Devils, who are in last place in the Metropolitan, forged a 2-0 lead before Hammond faced his first shot.
In fact, the Devils scored two straight goals three times in the game before the Panthers got untracked.
The Panthers, who had 70 shot attempts to just 46 for New Jersey, are now 16-3 against teams not holding a playoff position at present.
Brunette said his players had faith that this game would turn around.
“I don’t think there was any doubt in our room,” he said. “Our guys were fired up.”