Panthers rally past Predators, clinch playoff berth

NASHVILLE -- The Florida Panthers rallied to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth with a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals and three assists, Aleksander Barkov had two goals and an assist, and Sam Bennett had three assists for the Panthers (32-14-5), who are 6-2-1 in their past nine games and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning by one point for second place in the Discover Central Division. The top four teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Spencer Knight made nine saves to earn his second NHL win after replacing Sergei Bobrovsky (four goals on 21 shots) at the start of the third period.
"I think making the playoffs was our goal," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "At the beginning of the year, that's our goal. We want to be a playoff team and we want to finish as high as we can, and then we'll sort it out when you get to the next season (the playoffs). This has been a fun year for us as far as making some progress and being consistent in a lot of ways."

Juuse Saros made 49 saves, and Ryan Ellis scored twice for the Predators (27-22-2), who split the two-game set following a 4-1 win here Monday. Nashville leads the Dallas Stars, who have two games in hand, by two points for fourth place in the division.
"Well, I think there was only one guy that deserved a better fate, and that was Saros," Predators coach John Hynes said.
Owen Tippett scored for Florida to tie it 4-4 at 4:57 of the third period when he knocked in a loose puck following a scramble at the top of the crease.
Frank Vatrano then gave the Panthers a 5-4 lead at 7:15 from the left face-off dot, and Huberdeau made it 6-4 at 13:48 with a power-play goal off a backhand, cross-slot pass from Barkov.

Huberdeau was awarded his second goal to push the lead to 7-4 at 18:23 when he was tripped by Ellis in the offensive zone with the Predators net empty.
"It's fun," Huberdeau said. "We've been through a lot. I've been here nine years. It's just a fun year. I think when you win it makes it so much more fun. I like the guys, every guy in the room. We come out to the rink and we know when to have fun and know when to get serious. I think on the ice we've been working pretty hard. I think that's when we win the game, when every line is going. It's just fun to have that kind of year."
Florida finished with 55 shots on goal, tied for the most in an NHL game this season with the Colorado Avalanche, who did it in a 5-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on March 18.
"We knew we needed to bear down on our chances," Vatrano said. "We had tons of shots, but we weren't happy with the way we were defending. There were some holes in our defensive game tonight that we need to clean up a little bit. We gave them some goals with some breakdowns. It's tough. But you're going to need to score goals in the end to win hockey games, and that's what we did there in the third."
Ellis gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 6:07 of the first period on a slap shot from the point.
Barkov tied it 1-1 at 8:28 with a wrist shot short side on the power play, and Anthony Duclair scored another power-play goal for the Panthers to make it 2-1 at 2:56 of the second period.
Luke Kunin tied it 2-2 at 6:50 on a rebound of Calle Jarnkrok's shot before Tanner Jeannot gave the Predators a 3-2 lead at 12:40 after Bobrovsky gave up another rebound in the slot.

Barkov tied it 3-3 at 17:32 when his centering pass redirected five-hole on Saros off the stick of Predators defenseman Roman Josi.
Ellis scored his second of the game one a one-timer to make it 4-3 at 19:37.
"I don't think that's a game we're very proud of," Ellis said. "We've been moving in the right direction in a lot of games lately, and tonight I think we took a step back. I think this group is obviously disappointed in the way we played in front of our goaltender. He gave us a chance to win."
NOTES:Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist missed a second consecutive game and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson left the game at 8:07 of the second period because of an undisclosed injury.