Panthers Chomp On Sharks

     The Florida Panthers overcame the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in overtime at FLA Live Arena on Saturday night. The Panthers now carry a 23-3-0 record in Sunrise. The Cats played in front of their largest crowd of the 2021-22 season with the attendance at 18,152. 

     The Panthers will be involved in two road games prior to the NHL All-Star Game break. Their next home contest will be on February 22 as they host the Nashville Predators. The game was postponed back in late December. 

     San Jose(23-19-2) started ahead 1-0 at 6:10 of the first period. Tomas Hertl buried his 22nd goal of the season on an assist from Rudolfs Balcers. 

     The Sharks added a power-play tally with 2:43 left in the first for a 2-0 lead. Noah Gregor fed a pass to the right circle and Jonathan Dahlen scored on a wrist shot by Sergei Bobrovsky for his 10th goal this season. 

     Florida(30-10-5) closed it to 2-1 with 53.5 seconds remaining in the frame as Gustav Forsling collected his second goal of the campaign past former Panther James Reimer. Sam Reinhart and Mason Marchment were credited with assists on the play. 

     In the second period, San Jose expanded their lead to 3-1 at the 1:31 mark. Matt Nieto found the net for his fourth goal. Nick Bonino and Marc-Edouard Vlasic were able to get assists.

     The Panthers made it 3-2 at 1:26 of the third period. Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Jonathan Huberdeau executed a three-man weave in the right circle. Huberdeau backhanded the puck from the right wing and Barkov fired a snap shot from the inner right circle for his 20th goal of the season. It is the seventh consecutive season that Barkov has reached the 20-goal plateau. 

      San Jose converted with the man advantage at 4:50. Dahlen scored again on the power play for his 11th goal. 

     The Cats made it a one-goal margin at the 7:30 mark and trailed 4-3. Marchment was able to pick up his sixth goal on a pass from Sam Reinhart. 

      It became a tie game 4-4 with 10:22 remaining in the third. MacKenzie Weegar released a shot from the top of the zone that was stopped by the defense. Verhaeghe slid the puck from the low slot and Huberdeau tapped it in from the left of the crease for his 17th goal. 

     Florida got the 5-4 victory at 1:08 of overtime. Forsling passed from the left wing to Huberdeau behind the Sharks cage. He centered it and Sam Bennett scored on a one-time forehand shot from the top of the crease for his team-leading 21st goal this season.