Panthers OT success continues in Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. --When the Florida Panthers arrived at FLA Live Arena on Friday, mere hours after the sequence that got them back into the Stanley Cup Final -- a late regulation goal by Matthew Tkachuk followed by an overtime game-winner by Carter Verhaeghe -- there was a bit of a hop in their step.

They were still down in the Stanley Cup Final, 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. They still have an uphill climb against the Vegas Golden Knights if they hope to win the Stanley Cup. They'll still have to win at least one game on the road. But they were feeling good, feeling loose, feeling like they had reentered the race, with Game 4 ahead here on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, TVAS, SN).

Because an overtime win just hits differently.

"Overtime wins are more fun, right?" Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "And we've had a whole bunch of them."

After defeating the Golden Knights with that Verhaeghe goal at 4:27 of the extra session in Game 3 on Thursday, the Panthers are now 7-0 in overtime in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, winning twice each against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round, the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round, and the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

"You win a game in regulation and half your team kind of walks off the bench and they skate and they tap pads and it's fun and it's a good thing," Maurice said. "But we're not coming into the playoffs this year with, 'Hey, we played our game, yeah we won, let's keep it even-keeled because that's how good we are.' We allow ourselves to enjoy the overtime wins.

"Everybody came back in a good mood. It's a different group and in the underdog role, you need to find energy places, so we allow them to take some energy in after that and enjoy it."

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It's something the Panthers have somehow gotten used to over the past two months, the way their team is able to fight and fight and fight to keep games close, the way they are able to come back with minutes - or sometimes seconds - remaining in regulation, the way they don't shrink from the moment, even though it wasn't quite so kind to them in the regular season. Of games that were decided in overtime, not those that went to a shootout, the Panthers were 4-7 this season.

Things have turned in the playoffs.

"I think overtime is a fun place for us," Maurice said. "Because we have to scratch and claw to get it to overtime. … We're playing tight, tight games, and I feel anyway -- maybe this is a coach's perspective -- but if you can get a game to overtime, in some ways your work is done. You were right."

As Maurice pointed out, it's not like the Panthers games that have gone into overtime have been high-scoring affairs. In each of them, the teams scored no more than three goals apiece heading into the extra time.

"It's a tight game, so for our team to get it there, a whole bunch of things had to happen," Maurice said. "Your goaltender had to be good, you had to play your [behind] off, you had to block shots, it wasn't pretty. They had chances, you made the most of yours.

"Now you get to a point where it's fun. That's the feeling that I have on the bench from them. They're looking forward to it, right? They're in the room between the third and overtime chirping who gets to score the goal."

And in that, in those chirps and jokes and back-and-forth, is some of the lightness the Panthers have become known for in these playoffs.

"It's definitely not quiet, that's for sure," defenseman Radko Gudas said.

While Tkachuk has three of the overtime game-winners (Game 5 against Boston, Game 1 and 2 against Carolina) and Verhaeghe has two (Game 7 against Boston, Game 3 against Vegas), it hasn't only been those two. It was Sam Reinhart in Game 3 against Toronto and Nick Cousins in Game 5.

"We do have shooters," forward Eric Staal said. "We've got guys that can score. We've got guys that are comfortable in a situation where they can be asked to bury one and we've got guys that have some game-breaking ability. And when you have that in your lineup, it takes one quick look."

It takes one look. One chance. One player in the right spot at the right moment.

One player going to the right spot to make it the right moment.

One player having the confidence and the wherewithal to get the job done.

"It seems every time the game gets close, and then overtime, we have a calmness about our group, especially on the bench," Cousins said.

He paused.

"I guess, whenever you get to overtime, just give the puck to Carter Verhaeghe and usually good things happen," he added.
It's not just Verhaeghe, though it was in Game 3, as the Panthers slammed their way back into a series that was nearly slipping out of their reach.

The next time, it could be anyone.

"There's guys in our room that are built for the moments like that," Staal said. "There's hopefully some more ahead here."