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      3/27/21 Post Game Interviews

      Joel Quenneville has coached more than 1,700 games in the NHL.
      But even he'd never seen anything quite like this.
      After having his initial game-winning goal taken off the board for being offside, Aaron Ekblad, not deterred one bit, skated back down the ice and buried a beautiful backhand shot to lift the Panthers to a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over the Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

      Prior to the goal, Sergei Bobrovsky also made two incredible saves to keep the game alive.
      "I thought Bob came up with those two great saves that set it up for a great play," Quenneville said. "What a move by Ek, I guess you could say on both [goals]. I don't think I've ever seen someone score two overtime goals in the same game. That can go down as one of the better moves that we've seen. A lot of good things happened. We worked hard across the board."
      Netting his second-career hat trick, it was Carter Verhaeghe that stole the show leading up to overtime.
      Opening the scoring while most fans were likely still in line for concessions, Verhaeghe gave the Panthers an incredibly early 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Noel Acciari and roofed a shot over Anthon Khudobin and into the twine 24 seconds after the puck dropped in the first period.
      Taking back the momentum later in the period, Denis Gurianov evened things up for the Stars when he beat Bobrovsky from the doorstep after a nice pass from Jamie Benn to make it 1-1 at 8:01. Then, just 1:56 later, John Klingberg went top-shelf to suddenly put Dallas up 2-1 at 9:57.
      But scoring again to pull Florida even heading into the first intermission, Verhaeghe poked in a rebound on the power play following a shot from Owen Tippett to make it a 2-2 game at 17:00.
      "Outstanding game right from the first shift," Quenneville said of Verhaeghe.
      Finding the back of the net for a third time to complete his second-career hat trick, Verhaeghe forced a turnover on the penalty kill, skated right into the left circle and then wired a top-shelf screamer over Khudobin's glove to give the Cats a 3-2 lead at 17:40 of the second period.
      Unfortunately, even though it came in the Lone Star State, no ten-gallon hats were thrown.
      "We lost a couple straight there and everyone had to step up tonight," said Verhaeghe, who finished the game with a career-high four points. "I'm lucky a couple went in for me tonight."
      Tying up the game just three minutes into the third period, Joel L'Esperance converted on a long re-direction from the high slot to make it 3-3 and eventually get the game to overtime.
      In the extra frame, both teams had a few chances before Ekblad appeared to net the game-winner when he blasted a feed from Frank Vatrano just inside the post with 44 seconds left on the clock. Upon further review, however, it was ruled that Ekblad entered the zone offside.
      Of course, that goal would only come off the board momentarily.
      A little over 30 seconds after having victory snatched away, Ekblad took a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau, deftly pulled the puck to his backhand, and lifted a shot over Khudobin and into the cage to lock down the 4-3 win with, oddly enough, technically his second goal of the overtime.
      "I was very discouraged," Ekblad said of his mood after the offside call. "That hurt, especially because in that situation it's kind of the last thing you're thinking about when you have a clear-cut, 2-on-1 [rush], to stay onside. Looking down at it, it hurt. But, right after, Ulfy [Panthers assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson] put me right back out and gave me the opportunity. Bob made a huge blocker save. That's the only reason we were able to do that and go win that game."

      Likely the game's unsung hero, Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves on 34 shots to help Florida snap out of its season-long, three-game losing streak and improve to 21-9-4 on the campaign.
      "It's a big deal," Ekblad said of the win. "There's a depression when you go through these things. Three games doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot in this league. It's important in terms of seeding and position for us to win."
      Here are five takeaways from Saturday's wild win in Dallas…

      1. QUICK STRIKE

      This is why you always make sure you're in your seat by puck drop.
      Breaking the ice just 24 seconds after the action got underway - the fastest goal scored by the Panthers to open a game this season - Verhaeghe collected a pass from Acciari and sniped a shot over Khudobin's right shoulder and into the top of the cage to make it 1-0 in the first period.

      "I thought that line was very good tonight," Quenneville said.
      Leading the charge on offense with three goals and one assist against the Stars, Verhaeghe now sits atop Florida's goal-scoring leaderboard with 15. Of those goals, an eye-popping 13 of them have come while at even-strength, which places him tied for the sixth-most in the league.
      More than doubling his point total from last season, Verhaeghe has 28 points in just 34 games.

      2. BACK AT IT AGAIN

      There's definitely some chemistry brewing between Acciari and Verhaeghe.
      After Acciari was stoned by Khudobin on a rebound attempt following a heavy shot from Tippett, Verhaeghe cleaned up a loose puck in the blue paint and sent it across the line for a power-play goal to get the game all square at 2-2 with three minutes left on the clock in the opening stanza.

      "He's awesome," Verhaeghe said of Acciari. "He's a heart-and-soul guy for our team. He's a big part of our team. He does everything team-first. He blocks shots, makes great plays, he's hard on the puck, plays on the penalty kill and power play. He's so important to us."
      Given the nearly impossible task of filling in for Aleksander Barkov as the team's top-line center, Acciari continues to do nothing short of an exceptional job. With two more helpers in Dallas, the gritty forward has now compiled four assists - all primary - in three games since Barkov's injury.
      "He made a couple of big plays tonight," Verhaeghe said. "It's good to see him get rewarded."
      In addition to his two assists, Acciari also won a game-high 17 faceoffs in Dallas.

      3. SHORTY SEASON

      Verhaeghe's shorthanded goal highlighted a strong night for the Cats on the penalty kill.
      Going a perfect 3-for-3, the Panthers limited the Stars' power play to just three shots on goal. Additionally, they also held Dallas to just 10 shot attempts with the extra attacker, and only three of those attempts came from high-danger areas on the ice, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
      "They had good sticks and protected in front of the net," Bobrovsky said of the penalty killers in front of him. "They did a good job forcing [Dallas] to make mistakes. They had good retrievals and smart puck management."
      As for Verhaeghe's timely score - his first-career shorthanded tally and second by a Panther this season - you'd be hard-pressed to find a more impressive goal to cap off a hat trick.

      "A special night for him," Quenneville said of Verhaeghe. With an 85.5% success rate, Florida entered tonight's tilt with the fifth-ranked penalty kill on the road.

      4. TWO FOR EKBLAD

      If at first you don't succeed, just score an even prettier goal the second time around.
      Despite being admittedly discouraged after having his first game-winning goal disallowed for offside, Ekblad showed plenty of resolve by hopping back over the boards and burying a really nifty backhander on his very next shift to send the Panthers to a much-needed victory tonight.

      "It was awesome to see Ek get another one," Verhaeghe said. "A huge win for our team."
      By lighting the lamp once again, Ekblad moved back into a tie for the most goals in the NHL among defensemen with 11. Additionally, he also leads that same group in power-play goals (6) and game-winning goals (3).
      Overall, his overtime goal tonight was the fifth in his young career.

      5. ANOTHER MILESTONE

      Keith Yandle has been collecting milestone pucks like power-play points recently.
      Just a few weeks after suiting up in the 1,000th game of his career, the NHL's active ironman skated in his 900th consecutive game tonight. The longest such streak by a defenseman in NHL history, he's only the third player to ever lace up his skates and compete in 900 straight games.

      To put his streak into perspective, Game 1 of 900 took place on March 26, 2009.