With a 3-point night and fake ‘Michigan’ move, Huberdeau leads another Panthers comeback
It turns out there is one thing Jonathan Huberdeau can’t do.
He doesn’t think he can actually pull off the so-called “Michigan” move, the viral play in which a forward lifts the puck onto his stick from behind the net and scores from over the top of the crossbar.
“I think the puck would’ve gone in the corner if I tried it,” the All-Star left wing said with a laugh a few minutes after delivering the game-winning assist in the Florida Panthers’ 5-4, overtime victory against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Apparently, this fact didn’t make it into the Sharks’ scouting report because, in overtime, he pretended like he was going to break it out and it opened up the window for the Panthers (31-9-5) to finish off another comeback win.
With a little less than four minutes remaining in the 3-on-3 session, Huberdeau set up behind the net, bent his knees and leaned over like he was getting ready to flip the puck up onto his stick. The fake was just enough to draw star defenseman Brent Burns a little bit closer to the goal line and clear a window for a pass to forward Sam Bennett, who gave Florida the win with 3:52 left in the five-minute period.
“I see it on Instagram a lot,” he said, “so i was like, I’ll just try to fake it.”
It was the perfect way to cap another monster night for Huberdeau, who now leads the NHL with 62 points after tallying three Saturday.
He delivered a primary assist to star center Aleksander Barkov with 18:34 left to cut San Jose’s lead to 3-2. He scored the game-tying goal with 10:22 left, knotting the score at 4-4 after the Panthers trailed 4-2 just three minutes earlier. In overtime, he finished off his three-point night with the sort of highlight-reel play he has made routine this year as he has emerged as a dark-horse candidate for the Hart Memorial Trophy.
“He’s a pretty special player, as you all know, and at some point maybe the rest of the league will figure out how good he is and he’ll get the attention he deserves,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “His will to make those plays, to carry us on our back has been tremendous all season.”
It was Florida’s 15th come-from-behind win of the season and its sixth when trailing at the start of the third period. It also keeps the Panthers alone atop the NHL standings and now four points ahead of the rival Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Brunette made it start to happen early in the second period when Florida fell behind 3-1, and he responded by moving Huberdeau up to the first line to play with Barkov and fellow forward Carter Verhaeghe.
Although it didn’t yield any goals until the third period, the Panthers dominated the second. They outshot the Sharks, 18-10, and had a 25-9 edge in scoring chances. San Jose (22-19-3) stayed ahead into the third largely because of goaltender James Reimer, who finished with 44 saves on 49 shots, and 16 blocked shots, but an onslaught was coming. Florida could sense it, as could the 18,152 packed inside FLA Live Arena — the largest crowd of the season in Sunrise.
“They really gave us some energy there in the third,” left wing Mason Marchment said.
It only took 84 seconds in the third period for the tide to finally shift. Barkov charged down the slot, Huberdeau picked him out from the right side and the captain scored to cut the lead to 4-3. Although the Sharks answered by scoring their second power-play goal of the game with 15:10 remaining, the Panthers quickly hit back when Marchment scored 2:40 later.
Less than three minutes later, Florida tied the game when Barkov won an offensive-zone faceoff, Verhaeghe got the puck on the right doorstep and Huberdeau scored the game-tying goal off the feed from his new linemate.
Brunette’s mid-game tinkering worked. The Panthers got to overtime and scored on the first shot either team had in the sudden-death session.
“That’s our team. We have a lot of character,” Huberdeau said and then, in his usual understated manner, he explained as simply as possible why Florida stays calm no matter what: “We’ve had a lot of comebacks.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2022 at 8:46 PM.
