‘Comeback Cats’ do it again! Panthers stun Toronto with second 4-goal comeback in 4 days
The Florida Panthers trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs by four goals in the second period and they almost had the Maple Leafs right where they wanted them. All they needed, Jonathan Huberdeau said, was one goal.
“A little spark,” the All-Star left wing said, “and then we get going.”
Sam Reinhart, it seemed, agreed. With 8:08 left in the second, the star forward scored on a power play. It was a spark.
He punctuated the goal with a massive fist pump and shouted, Let’s go — with an expletive inserted in the middle. He could feel it because the Panthers always do: Another comeback was brewing in Sunrise and the 7-6 come-from-behind, overtime win might have been their most spectacular one yet.
On Saturday, Florida erased a four-goal, third-period deficit to beat the New Jersey Devils in Newark. The Devils are one of the worst teams in the league, though. Toronto is one of the best and stormed the Panthers in a way not many teams can. The Maple Leafs, with the second most prolific offense in the NHL behind Florida’s, ripped off a 5-0 scoring run in the first and second periods, and the Panthers answered with one of their own in the second and third.
Florida’s comeback happened so fast it scored a go-ahead goal with 11:59 left and Toronto, playing its second game in as many days, still managed to fight back and tie the game with 3:54 remaining before Huberdeau finally gave the Panthers their fifth straight win by scoring 2:13 left in the five-minute overtime period.
It took five points from Huberdeau, four from star center Aleksander Barkov, three from Reinhart and two from All-Star forward Claude Giroux, but Florida somehow overcame a disastrous start to the second period to move six points ahead of the second-place Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference and eight clear of the second-place Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division.
“Obviously, we’ve just got to play better defensively. We know we can score goals, but it’s not going to happen every game,” Huberdeau said, then chuckled as he thought about what he just said. “We say that. It’s been happening.”
To get their 24th come-from-behind win of the year, the Panthers had to survive a wildly eventful second period.
Florida and Toronto combined for seven goals, 25 shots, 24 scoring chances, eight penalties, two goalie changes, and two power-play and two shorthanded goals — one of each for each team — in the chaotic frame.
“It was a frenzied game,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said. “I’m sure their coach is scratching his head a little bit, too.”
The Maple Leafs scored three times in the first 2:04 — with star right wing Mitchell Marner scoring a power-play goal and shorthanded goal just 37 seconds apart to set an NHL record for shortest time between two such goals for one player — and Brunette decided he had seen enough. The coach yanked star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in favor of Spencer Knight — just like he did Saturday — and the rookie goaltender gave up one more with 11:20 left in the period. Toronto was on the verge of a blowout with a 5-1 lead.
By the end of the period, its lead was down to 5-4. Less than a minute after Reinhart started the run, defenseman Radko Gudas scored a shorthanded goal on a desperation shot from the blue line in transition. Before the end of the period, Giroux scored his first goal as a Panther and Huberdeau finally tied up the game with a rebound goal on a power play with 17:15 remaining in the third. The crowd of 15,260 at FLA Live Arena was out of control.
“When we’re down 5-1 and we made it 5-2,” Giroux said, “it’s like the crowd knew we were coming back.”
With 11:59 left, Barkov put the Panthers back in the lead, scoring from the doorstep off an assist from Huberdeau from behind the net, but Toronto center John Tavares forced overtime with his own power play goal in the final four minutes.
In overtime, Florida and Toronto traded dangerous chances for nearly three minutes of 3-on-3 action, until Barkov got a step on the Maple Leafs’ defense, fielded an entry pass from defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and teed up Huberdeau for the game-winning goal on a 2-on-1.
“They just have a knack to be able to find each other,” Giroux said.
Huberdeau, who set the Panthers’ single-season record for points Sunday, had two goals and three assists to become the franchise’s first 100-point scorer. Barkov, after scoring two goals in the final minute to cap the Panthers’ four-goal comeback Saturday, assisted the game-winner, and added a goal and a assist. With two goals and an assist, Reinhart set new career-highs with 26 goals and 68 points.
Giroux added another assist on Huberdeau’s third-period goal and now has nine points in eight games since joining Florida ahead of the trade deadline, and Knight, who began the season with Calder Memorial Trophy aspirations before settling into a reserve role, stopped 19 of 21 shots he faced.
In a battle of two of the best teams in the NHL, the Panthers outshot the Maple Leafs, 48-35, by leaning on their stars taking advantage of an opponent playing its second game in as many nights.
Until Tuesday, Toronto was the only East team Florida had not beaten, so this was an important statement win, especially after the Maple Leafs beat the Panthers by three in their only other meeting last month in Toronto. By virtually every metric, Florida outplayed the Maple Leafs, with the edge in shots on goal, shot attempts, scoring chances, high-danger chances, expected goals, faceoff percentage, hits and power-play percentage.
It was, however, what the Panthers were supposed to do, especially in South Florida with Toronto playing the second game of a back-to-back set. The thrill of another comeback was offset by the frustration of its necessity — these Panthers are now only the third team in NHL history with multiple four-goal comebacks in a single season — and it meant the novelty of the weekend was gone Tuesday.
“It’s a little worrisome as much as impressive,” Brunette said. “We have to stop doing this because this isn’t a good sign.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 10:07 PM.
