SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers showed they had no quit in them Saturday night, never leading their game against the Vegas Golden Knights until it counted.
Florida, which trailed three different times, saw Gus Forsling score with 16.2 seconds left in overtime for a 4-3 win over the Knights.
The Panthers have won the past three meetings against the Knights since Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.
Florida has a four-game point streak going (3-0-1) despite playing shorthanded.
The Panthers only had 17 skaters dressed in this rematch of the 2023 Final win by the Knights.
“I liked that game an awful lot tonight,” coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s 7 and 11, down a guy and they are a deep team with a heavy backend. That’s as good a game as we have played this year. We had some turnovers and you know what? Don’t even care about them. Sergei had to make a couple of big saves off it, but the effort was just outstanding. The compete was great.”
Florida trailed for a lot of the night — but never let the Knights get out of scoring range.
Vegas, which has lost its past three, only took leads of a single goal.
Down 3-2 in the third, Eetu Luostarinen scored on a nice feed from Sam Reinhart (goal, two assists) to tie it with 7:17 remaining.
Forsling scored the game-winner on a terrific cross-ice pass from Sam Bennett — who is reportedly in contract talks with the Panthers.
GOALS OF THE GAME
- Vegas 1, Panthers 0 (19:27, 1st): A soft turnover from Anton Lundell deep in the zone is picked off by Nicolas Roy and quickly went across the ice to Tanner Pearson who buries it.
- Panthers 1, Vegas 1 (1:09, 2nd): Lundell zips one from the point across the ice which bounced off the side boards — and to a waiting Sam Reinhart who one-times it past Ilya Samsonov.
- Vegas 2, Panthers 1 (14:15, 2nd): Pearson gets off an odd-angled shot through traffic which Keegan Kolesar deflects through Bobrovsky’s skates.
- Panthers 2, Vegas 2 (19:20 2nd PP): Carter Verhaeghe connects with a charging Sam Bennett at the net to tie the score again.
- Vegas 3, Panthers 2 (7:30, 3rd): Brett Howden takes the puck from AJ Greer along the wall, drives in and beats Sergei Bobrovsky for another Vegas lead.
- Panthers 3, Vegas 3 (12:43, 3rd): Aaron Ekblad’s point shot bounced off of Samsonov and into traffic where Reinhart knocked it toward open ice where Eetu Luostarinen hammered it home.
- Panthers 4, Vegas 3 (4:43 OT): Gus Forsling gets the big goal off a nice pass from Bennett.
FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
- 1. Sam Reinhart, Florida
- 2. Gus Forsling, Florida
- 3. Tanner Pearson, Vegas