The Florida Panthers needed a miracle save in the third period and a 4-on-3 chance in overtime, but their three-game losing streak is finally over with a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars.
Frank Vatrano scored with 1:51 left in overtime and the Panthers snapped one of their longest losing streaks of the season after a 12-save third period by Chris Driedger helped Florida survive after blowing a pair of one-goal leads in regulation.
The winger scored on a shot from the right circle with six seconds left on the power play to pull the Panthers even with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes atop the Central Division after ending its second three-game losing streak of the season.
The true hero, though, was Chris Driedger.
Driedger, who has mostly backed up fellow goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky this season, entered Tuesday with the second best save percentage in the NHL and made 24 saves on 26 shots to beat the Stars in Dallas. In the third period, he stopped 11 of 12 shots he faced, including one with 9:49 left to save the game after the Stars evened the score just minutes earlier.
After star forward Joe Pavelski tied the game 2-2 on a rebound goal with 11:34 remaining, Dallas had the puck back in the offensive zone and set up Jamie Benn for a look from the right circle. The Stars forward forced a save, and a loose puck bounced off the right foot of defenseman Anton Stralman and drifted toward the goal line. With the puck more than halfway across the line, Driedger spun around, reached back into the net, and kept the puck from completely crossing by sweeping his stick and pulling the puck into his body.
VERHAEGHE OUT ‘WEEK-TO-WEEK’
The Panthers dealing with another injury to one of their stars.
Carter Verhaeghe, whose plus-minus of plus-23 is tied for second among NHL forwards, is out “week-to-week” with an upper-body injury, the team announced Tuesday before it took the ice against at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Verhaeghe joins star center Aleksander Barkov, right wing Patric Hornqvist, winger Anthony Duclair and defenseman Aaron Ekblad as Florida skaters to miss time with injuries in the last month. While the forwards have all returned, Ekblad is likely out for the season with a leg fracture.
Verhaeghe’s injury will also keep the Panthers’ productive top line from reuniting after 11 games split up because of injuries. Duclair is set to return for Florida (27-12-4) on Tuesday against the Stars (15-14-12) after missing six games with a shoulder injury and Barkov missed the five prior games with a lower-body injury. Barkov, Verhaeghe and Duclair have played more than 237 minutes together this season with 61.6 percent Corsi For, 16 goals and eight goals against.
Playing next to Barkov and Duclair, Verhaeghe has been one of the league’s breakout stars this season. After playing less than 10 minutes per game as a rookie with the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, Verhaeghe signed with the Panthers in the offseason, and thrived in his larger role with 17 goals and 18 assists in more than 17 minutes per game. The 25-year-old forward is Florida’s most productive even-strength scorer with 15 goals and 17 assists.
With Verhaeghe sidelined, one spot is open on the Panthers’ top line with Duclair returning to the top group in his return from injury, coach Joel Quenneville said. Florida is currently short a handful of potential options with wingers Nikita Gusev and Sam Bennett, both of whom were acquired over the weekend, not joining the Panthers until at least Thursday.
Still, Florida added Gusev and Bennett to the active roster Tuesday in anticipation of their arrivals. Florida also recalled goaltender Spencer Knight from the taxi squad and loaned defenseman Kevin Connaughton to the taxi squad.
