Barkov’s no-look winner caps Panthers’ comeback vs. Canes to keep division hopes alive
A smile crept up Aleksander Barkov’s face as his teammates rushed in his direction to celebrate — finally — a Florida Panthers win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
MacKenzie Weegar was the first one there to jump into his captain’s arms and then everyone on the ice was surrounding the star center. Barkov led the Panthers’ first — and only — rush of overtime and the Hurricanes waited for a pass that never came. Barkov stared to his left, wanting everyone to think he was ready to pick out a target, and then he let rip at Alex Nedeljkovic’s five-hole. The puck rattled around for a moment, then passed through the Hurricanes goaltender’s legs. Florida’s months-long nightmare was over with a 4-3, overtime win in Sunrise to snap a six-game losing streak against Carolina.
“It took us too many games to do it,” Barkov told Bally Sports Florida moments after the game-winner, “but we finally did it.”
All Florida (31-13-5) needed to finally beat the Hurricanes (31-10-6) for the first time since February was one of the most spectacular goals of the season by Barkov, a career-best performance from Weegar and a two-goal comeback in the third period.
The Panthers fell behind 3-1 early in the third and were in danger of finishing the regular season with seven straight losses to Carolina despite severely outplaying them in this one. In less than four minutes, they erased the two-goal deficit with a pair 1:32 apart, including a shorthanded score by forward Alex Wennberg with 13:40 left.
Barkov finally ended the losing streak on a goal less with 4:36 left in overtime. With seven games to go, Florida kept its Central Division hopes alive by cutting the first-place Hurricanes’ lead to a single point.
The celebration couldn’t be too big, though. Coach Joel Quenneville set the goal for Saturday as a regulation win to keep Carolina from taking away any points. With two fewer games played than the Panthers, the Hurricanes still hold a substantial edge in points percentage.
Florida does, however, once again control its own destiny for second place. The Panthers now lead the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning by three points and hold a slim lead in points percentage.
“It would’ve been nice to get the two points without them getting one,” Quenneville said. “At the same time, at least we’re still around.”
In one of its most important games of the season, Florida delivered one of its best all-around performances.
The Panthers outshot Carolina, 37-19. They generated twice as many scoring chances. On one shorthanded opportunity in the third period, Florida created three high-danger chances, scored a game-tying goal on one and hit the crossbar on a potential go-ahead opportunity.
Weegar was “special,” Quenneville said, and versatile forward Sam Bennett was, too. Bennett dished out another assist — he now has six points in five games as a Panther — and Weegar put together perhaps the best performance of his career.
In the first period, he scored on a one-timer from Jonathan Huberdeau to give Florida a 1-0 lead. On all three goals during the Panthers’ comeback, he contributed assists.
The defenseman finished with one goal, three assists, four shots on goal, seven blocked shots, seven hits, four takeaways and a Corsi for percentage of 61.3, meaning Florida was generating more than 60 percent of the shots when he was on the ice in 5-on-5 action.
It was, in his own words, “a statement.”
“That’s a top team in our league. They’ve had our number all year and I just didn’t want to lose,” Weegar said. “I didn’t want to lose to that team. I wanted to make a statement. If we see them in the playoffs, I want them to know that we can beat you.”
The comeback began on his stick. He made a pass down to Huberdeau in the right corner of the offensive zone and the All-Star left wing flung the puck across the ice to defenseman Gustav Forsling, who put home a one-timer to cut the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-1 with 15:12 left.
Earlier Saturday, a smattering of boos from the 4,838 at the BB&T Center serenaded the home team after a fourth and final failed power play dropped them to 3 of 35 against Carolina this season. After Forsling’s goal, chants of “Let’s go Panthers!” rose, but they only lasted a few seconds. Versatile forward Juho Lammikko took a penalty and the Hurricanes went on the power play.
It didn’t slow down Florida. Barkov came up with a steal and generated one chance, then Anthony Duclair created another. The winger put a puck on goal and Nedeljkovic couldn’t cover it. Weegar dug at the puck, then Wennberg finally pushed it home to tie the game 3-3. Nineteen seconds later, versatile Bennett nearly put the Panthers ahead with another shorthanded goal, but hit the crossbar on a breakaway opportunity.
Nedeljkovic finished with 32 saves on 36 shots, goaltender Chris Driedger stopped 16 of 19 and the rivals went to overtime in South Florida.
In the final seconds of regulation, Quenneville pulled Driedger, trying desperately for a regulation win to move back into a tie for first place.
In the end, the Panthers knows their place in the final standings won’t define this season. What matters is how they fare in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. After Saturday, Florida finally feels like it can play with anyone in the Central.
“We like the result, but obviously this is only the regular season,” Barkov said. “If you want to go all the way, there’s going to be games like this.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2021 at 9:50 PM.
