Luongo moves into third on all-time wins list, Panthers top Avalanche

DENVER -- Roberto Luongo got his 485th NHL win and passed Ed Belfour for third on the all-time list when the Florida Panthers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in overtime at Pepsi Center on Monday.

Luongo, 39, made 36 saves. Aaron Ekblad scored 26 seconds into overtime for Florida (28-25-8), which has won five of its past six games and trails the Carolina Hurricanes by eight points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"I'm happier we got the two points," Luongo said. "It's a big road win for our club against a team that's one of the good teams. They had won four in a row, so it was a gutsy effort for our club in a road game in a tough building."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Avalanche highlights]
Ekblad beat Semyon Varlamov between the pads from the right face-off circle off a pass from Mike Hoffman, who had a goal and two assists.

"We saw all three of their guys lined up on the wall, so I told (Panthers center Vincent Trocheck) to slap it up the middle," Hoffman said. "I knew I was at least going to be able to enter the zone with the puck. That's what happened. Ekblad was also able to beat his guy up the ice and had a good shot."
Derick Brassard, acquired from the Panthers earlier Monday, scored in his debut for Colorado (27-24-12), which is tied in points with the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card from the West. Varlamov made 34 saves for the Avalanche, whose four-game winning streak ended.
Brassard drove to the net to convert Ryan Graves' pass at 7:49 of the third period to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.
"I guess they fell asleep there," said Brassard, who played left wing on a line with center Tyson Jost and right wing Matt Calvert. "I was just coming down the middle and it was a great play by [Graves] to be patient and just go around the net. I felt like we played a good game in general. Maybe we needed a little more tonight and that's why we didn't get the extra point.
"It was a fun night. It's always a good atmosphere here and coming from a visiting team, it's always a special place. I'm going to try and play well here for the team and the fans."

Florida tied it 3-3 on Hoffman's goal at 11:57 with a shot from the left circle.
"(Keith) Yandle made a great pass to me on the back door," Hoffman said. "We were able to tie it up and get a little more momentum back on our side after they got one."
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead on Jost's goal at 2:12 of the second period. Jost corralled a deflected shot by Patrik Nemeth and scored from the right slot.
Mikko Rantanen made it 2-0 at 14:31 of the second period after taking a pass from Tyson Barrie off the boards.
Troy Brouwer scored from the left hash marks at 18:26 to make it 2-1.

Florida tied it 2-2 on Evgenii Dadonov's power-play goal 1:09 later at 19:35. Hoffman's shot hit Aleksander Barkov and bounced to Dadonov in front.
"Breakdown in (defensive) zone coverage, no talk, so there's a duplication and they find the guy open, they score," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Then right away, we take a penalty off the face-off. They have a lethal power play, we know that coming in. We have to stay out of the box, they score again."

They said it

"I believe in the character and the heart in this room. We're going to battle together right to the end. We sure did that tonight being down 2-0 and being down 3-2. Finding ways to win games this time of year is never easy. I think we've done a great job of that recently. Great performances all around, a lot of contributions tonight." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"He was pretty good. Hasn't skated in a couple days, comes in, gets brushed up on things, scores a big goal for us. Pretty good on the draws. We'll get to know him a little bit better. I don't know him real well as a player; trying to do my homework on him. I liked his talk out there, a veteran guy, knows what's going on, making the right reads." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on forward Derick Brassard

Need to know

Yandle played his 776th consecutive regular-season game to tie Craig Ramsay for the fifth-longest streak in NHL history. … Barkov has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak and 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 12 games. ... Dadonov has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a six-game point streak. … Colorado is 1-11 in overtime this season. … Brassard played 13:20, had three shots on goal and won nine of 12 face-offs.

What's next

Panthers: At the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SNP, ALT, NHL.TV)