Although he scored the game-winner, Aaron Ekblad deferred all post-game praise to his goaltender.
In turning aside 36 of 39 shots to help lead the Florida Panthers to a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 25, 2019, Roberto Luongo earned the 485th victory of his illustrious NHL career, breaking a tie with Ed Belfour for third place on the NHL's all-time wins list among netminders.
"Unbelievable saves -- huge," Ekblad said of Luongo's stellar performance shortly after the final buzzer had sounded at Pepsi Center. "We obviously didn't do a great job defensively… but he stood on his head. He passed Eddie Belfour tonight. That's a huge accomplishment and it's great to be a part of it."
As part of their "Panthers Rewind" series, FOX Sports Florida re-aired the matchup on Thursday.
Following a scoreless first period -- thanks in large part to more than a few highlight-reel stops from Luongo in net -- the Avalanche took a 1-0 lead 2:12 into the second period on a goal from Tyson Jost. Then, at 14:31, Mikko Rantanen doubled Florida's deficit to 2-0 with a wrist shot from the right circle.
But with Luongo behind them, the Panthers didn't panic.
Not long after Rantanen's goal, Troy Brouwer and Evgenii Dadonov each found the back of the net for the Cats at 18:26 and 19:35, respectively, to make it 2-2 with just 25 seconds left in the middle frame.
In the third period, Derick Brassard, who was traded from Florida to Colorado after morning skate, put the Avalanche back on top 3-2 at 7:49. But at 11:57, Mike Hoffman answered right back for the Panthers when he netted his team-leading 27th goal of the season to make it 3-3 and force an eventual overtime.
"I thought Lu really kept us in the game early on," Hoffman said. "Without a lot of those big saves we could've been down by two, maybe three goals. Those are tough hills to climb back in this league."
Feeding off that strong finish to regulation, Ekblad took a pass from Hoffman and fired a shot on net that trickled past Semyon Varlamov just 26 seconds into the extra frame to lock in the 4-3 victory for Luongo.
In typical "Lu" fashion, the humble goalie was focused on the team rather than himself after the win.
"I'm a lot happier that 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, and they'd won four in a row. It was a gutsy effort from our club in a road game in a tough building."
After manning the crease for 19 seasons in the NHL -- including parts of 11 with the Panthers -- Luongo officially retired on June 26, 2019. When it was all said and done, he finished his career ranking second in NHL history in games played by a goaltender (1,044), third in wins (489) and ninth in shutouts (77).
As it stands now, only Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551) have more wins than Luongo.
So, on March 7 of this season, the Panthers honored Luongo by making him the first player in franchise history to have their number retired when they raised his No. 1 sweater into the rafters at BB&T Center.
"When I was a kid, being No. 1 meant being No. 1, just being the best at everything," said Luongo, who now works as a special advisor to Panthers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Dale Tallon. "I tried to be the best at everything I did. No. 1 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts."
To read more about Luongo's incredible career, click HERE.
