The Florida Panthers' season was essentially on the line tonight. Their backs against the wall, in a pressure situation, having not faced this kind of adversity since their first round series against the Boston Bruins.
Overtime. The very word in which the Panthers live for these moments.
And for the first time in their franchise history, they have won a Stanley Cup Final game.
Carter Verhaeghe scored his fourth postseason overtime goal of his career, and none will come any bigger than this one.
He got the marker at the 4:27 mark of overtime to get another win for the “Comeback Cats” to take Game 3. Receiving the feed from Sam Bennett, he fired one from the very high slot past Adin Hill for the winner.
While the Vegas Golden Knights still lead the series 2-1, that goal sparked some new life in the Panthers, who improved to 7-0 in overtime throughout the playoffs, and have actually won more games in overtime than they have won in regulation.
But it was the two guys from Florida that were favored to win the Conn Smythe Trophy that continue to keep them in the game and series.
Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky.
Tkachuk tied the game with 2:13 left in regulation after a bouncing puck came to him after Adin Hill made the save on the one-timer shot by Verhaeghe. The puck rolled to Tkachuk, who was waiting to collect the loose rebound right in front of the crease, picked it up, and fired it right to the open net.
He played just three shifts in the first period after a HEAVY hit by Keegan Kolesar rattled him in the first period.
He tried to fight it off on a Panthers power play, but he had to go to the locker room, and he wasn't on the bench to start the second period, but he fought through the pain and scored the game-tying goal.
Bobrovsky played one of his best games as a Florida Panther, with many crucial stops to keep them in the game.
Such as turning away Chandler Stephenson, who collected a loose puck in the slot and tried to tuck it on the backhand after the puck bounced off Mark Stone's stick.
Or a glove save on Nic Hague after the defenseman got the feed from Jack Eichel.
Or some other outstanding saves on Jonathan Marchessault, Nic Roy, Brayden McNabb, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Brett Howden, and Mike Amadio.
Especially on Howden, where the puck seemingly hit the post but Bobrovsky got a piece of it with his blocker on the rebound chance off Theodore's initial shot!
And he turned away Stephenson again after the former Washington Capital poked the puck away from Sam Bennett just as a Florida power play expired, and Bobrovsky was right there to close the wall on him twice!
The Panthers weren't turning away from him, and they continued to be confident in his ability to keep them in the series, and he delivered.
The Golden Knights had MANY chances to put Game 3 away in regulation.
But every time in that third period, it was Bobrovsky stopping them, especially on a Karlsson tap-in after he received a centering feed to the slot from Eichel, or, in the case of a 2-on-1 with less than five minutes to go, Ivan Barbashev hit the crossbar.
That was the closest the Knights have came to winning the game.
It was Marchessault setting up Barbashev on a cross-ice pass, and he had Bobrovsky BEAT.
But it was the goalie's best friend that kept the score at 2-1.
Bobrovsky finished with 25 saves in the game, and even though Vegas had all sorts of chances left and right, he was right there to stop basically all of them!
Not to mention Brandon Montour ended his 10-game pointless drought in scoring the opening goal of the game. Eric Staal set up the screen in front to take Hill's eyes away, and Tkachuk sets up the defenseman for the opening goal 4:08 into the game!
The Panthers needed to get their defense to start rolling, and Montour said that he felt the chances were coming and would keep on coming from there, and he is a man of his word.
Knowing that they were getting ill-advised penalties throughout the first two games of the Finals, as they had 142 penalty minutes entering the third period through three Finals games after totaling 82 through the second round and Eastern Conference Finals combined, they decided to go with more stick checks rather than the big, physical plays.
After racking 36 and 44 hits in Games 1 and 2, respectively, the hit totals simmered down to just 14 in Game 3.
Paul Maurice made the adjustment in the two days of rest, but they still battled hard.
Though through the fight, they battled through adversity.
They gave up two power play goals to the Knights in this game, the first on a 4-on-3 right after William Carrier basically put Radko Gudas, who was playing through an apparent injury suffered from last game from Ivan Barbashev's bone-crushing hit, through the boards and Gudas with a retaliation penalty, and after Anthony Duclair caught Zach Whitecloud in the skates, and immediately Vegas made them pay. Stone took Bobrovsky’s eyes away from the puck, and tapped in Marchessault's one-time feed from Shea Theodore.
The second power play goal was Marchessault's “lucky no. 13,” as he gets the setup from Eichel, who briefly lost his balance before regaining his composure in receiving the puck, the feed, and he finds the back of the net.
That goal made Marchessault the third player in the last 35 years to score in each of the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final, alongside Jake Guentzel and Steve Yzerman.
And keep in mind that he had just two points in the first seven games of this postseason, and now he's setting the pace for the Knights.
After having an 18% power play success rate in the regular season, they have been consistent on special teams, which has been game-changing in the Finals.
The Panthers had 24 giveaways to the Golden Knights' seven. Florida also did not convert in all five of their power plays, shooting four times on those man advantages, to fall to 0-for-12 overall through the Finals. Vegas on the other hand, converted on two of six, with seven shots.
Florida even had to kill off 1:49 of penalty time heading into overtime, after Gustav Forsling got called for a tripping penalty after catching Stephenson with his skate with 11.2 seconds left in regulation.
At this point fans would expect the Golden Knights would settle in on the power play given that they have scored two power play goals per game in the Finals and they would be getting a GREAT chance to take a 3-0 stranglehold.
But not only did Florida kill it off, they did not even get Vegas with a shot on goal as Eric Staal got TWO big blocks to keep the game tied at two.
In the end, the Panthers persevered, hung in there, and stayed with the Golden Knights for their 10th consecutive postseason overtime win.
Game 4 of the Finals will be on June 10th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT. As John Ott will not be available as he has obligations to tend to, I will be filling in for him, though I will monitor myself to see how I feel after the UEFA Champions League Final, as that match is at 3:00 PM ET on the same day. Nonetheless, follow us @JohnRyanOtt and @DatYinzerAlec for coverage throughout the Finals!
Scoring
FLA, 4:08 1st: Brandon Montour [7] (Matthew Tkachuk [13] & Eric Staal [3]), EV, wrist shot, 1-0 FLA
VGK, 16:03 1st: Mark Stone [8] (Jonathan Marchessault [10] & Shea Theodore [9]), PP, tip-in, 1-1 TIE
VGK, 14:59 2nd: Jonathan Marchessault [13] (Jack Eichel [17] & Mark Stone [11]), PP, wrist shot, 2-1 VGK
FLA, 17:47 3rd: Matthew Tkachuk [11] (Carter Verhaeghe [10] & Aaron Ekblad [6]), EV, wrist shot, 2-2 TIE
FLA, 4:27 1OT: Carter Verhaeghe [7] (Sam Bennett [9] & Gustav Forsling [5]), EV, wrist shot, 3-2 FLA
Goaltending
FLA: Sergei Bobrovsky—25/27, .926 save percentage
VGK: Adin Hill—20/23, .870 save percentage
Penalties
VGK, 6:01 1st: William Carrier 2-minute minor, high-sticking Sam Bennett
FLA, 12:14 1st: Marc Staal 2-minute minor, tripping Ivan Barbashev
VGK, 15:17 1st: William Carrier 2-minute minor, boarding Radko Gudas
FLA, 15:17 1st: Radko Gudas 2-minute minor, cross-checking William Carrier
FLA, 15:40 1st: Anthony Duclair 2-minute minor, tripping Zach Whitecloud
VGK, 0:24 2nd: William Carrier 2-minute minor, tripping Colin White
FLA, 4:56 2nd: Aaron Ekblad, 2-minute minor, holding Chandler Stephenson
VGK, 8:00 2nd: Brayden McNabb 2-minute minor, hooking Anthony Duclair
FLA, 14:13 2nd: Sasha Barkov 2-minute minor, interference on Zach Whitecloud
VGK, 16:26 2nd: Alec Martinez 2-minute minor, interference on Ryan Lomberg
FLA, 19:22 2nd: Anton Lundell 2-minute minor, slashing Ivan Barbashev
VGK, 7:22 3rd: Jack Eichel 2-minute minor, hooking Sam Bennett
VGK, 10:37 3rd: Ivan Barbashev 2-minute minor, roughing Radko Gudas
FLA, 10:37 3rd: Radko Gudas 2-minute minor, roughing Ivan Barbashev
FLA, 19:48 3rd: Gustav Forsling 2-minute minor, tripping Chandler Stephenson
Team Stats
Shots: FLA 23, VGK 27
Faceoffs: FLA 31, VGK 34 (VGK 52.3% advantage)
Power Play: VGK 2/6 (7 shots), FLA 0/5 (4 shots)
PIM: FLA 16, VGK 14
Hits: FLA 14, VGK 18
Blocks: FLA 17, VGK 31
Giveaways: FLA 24, VGK 7
Takeaways: FLA 11, VGK 8
Three Stars
Third Star: Adin Hill
Second Star: Sergei Bobrovsky
First Star: Carter Verhaeghe
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