May 28, 2024, 11:36 PM ET
SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers topped the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference Final at two games apiece.
It was the third straight OT game in the series — and the first time Florida got a win in those matchups.
Blake Wheeler, playing his first game for the Rangers since mid-February, was called for hooking Aleksander Barkov 59 seconds into the extra session. And it didn’t take long for the Panthers to cash in, with Barkov setting up Reinhart in front.
Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida, which got 21 saves — and an assist — from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 37 shots.
Game 5 is Thursday in New York, where the teams split the opening two matchups in this series. Game 6 will be Saturday in Sunrise, and the Prince of Wales Trophy — awarded to the East champs — will be in attendance that night.
Bennett got Florida on the board midway through the second period, on a second effort. His first shot got past Shesterkin, but not into the net — and Bennett, who followed the shot, managed to get to the puck before anyone else. He knocked it off the back of the goalie’s skate and barely across the goal line.
And 3 1/2 minutes later, Florida had the lead on a pinball goal by Verhaeghe.
Matthew Tkachuk centered the puck from the right corner, and it deflected off Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s stick. Airborne, it bounced off Shesterkin, then off Lindgren’s upper body — and Verhaeghe, with more of a baseball swing than anything else, batted it out of the air for a 2-1 Florida edge.
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Including playoffs, over the last two seasons, Florida entered Tuesday with an NHL-best record of 81-2-6 in games where it led after 40 minutes.
Lafrenière didn’t care. A neat spin move from Adam Fox got him the puck on the left side of the crease and he tapped it home…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40237443/sam-reinhart-ot-winner-ties-series-florida-panthers
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Publish date : 2024-05-29 04:41:19
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