Panthers Shock Ducks

     The Florida Panthers continued their five-game home stand and surprised the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 in overtime at BB&T Center on Thursday night. The Cats came back from a four-goal deficit for the second time in the last nine days. They accomplished the same feat at Boston against the Bruins on November 14.
     Anaheim(10-10-3) got in front with 2:45 left in the first period. Adam Henrique placed a shot from the high slot which was deflected by Jakob Silfverberg at the top of the crease. After the save, Max Jones scored on a wrist shot from the right of the crease for his third goal of the season and second goal in the last four games.
     The Ducks made it 2-0 at 7:17 of the second period. Erik Gudbranson got the puck on the left point and forwarded it to Ondrej Kase in the low left circle. He found Nick Ritchie on the inner edge of the left circle for a one-time slap shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.
     It became a three-goal margin for Anaheim as they got a power-play tally with 4:10 remaining in the second.  Ryan Getzlaf moved the puck from the right side. Cam Fowler angled a pass to his left from the top of the zone and Rickard Rakell snapped a shot from the left-circle dot for his seventh goal of the year.
     The Panthers surrendered another goal with 1:21 left in the frame. Keith Yandle tried to send out an outlet pass that was stopped by Kase in the high slot. He fired a snap shot for the goal.  
     Florida(12-5-5) finally scored with 1:07 remaining. Frank Vatrano raced into the offensive zone on the left side. He centered the puck and Brett Connolly beat John Gibson on a wrist shot from the slot area.
     The Cats made it 4-2 with 39.1 seconds to go. Anton Stralman backhanded the puck from the right corner out to the middle which Vincent Trocheck touched. Connolly put a wrist shot on goal that went off Fowler's right arm and into the Ducks cage.
     In the third period, the Panthers closed it to 4-3 with 8:05 left. Aleksander Barkov moved the puck from the left corner and Jonathan Huberdeau passed it rom the end wall back to the right point. Aaron Ekblad hesitated and then blasted a slap shot for his third goal of the season.
     The four-goal deficit was overcome by Florida with 4:23 remaining in the third to tie it 4-4. Ekblad took a shot from the left goal line which Gibson saved. Ekblad put another shot from that same area that went off the body of Dominic Totinato in the blue paint and into the net. Mike Hoffman got the secondary assist on the tally.
     The Panthers finished off the comeback just 22 seconds into overtime. Barkov brought the puck into the Ducks zone and handed it off to Huberdeau and he dropped it off. Ekblad dashed to the low right circle and released a high wrist shot for the game-winning goal.