By finishing off the give-and-go, Verhaeghe netted his 10th goal of the campaign.
“He made an awesome pass, really deceptive,” Verhaeghe said of Lundell’s set-up dish.
Starting the second period on the penalty kill, the Panthers held Colorado’s vaunted power play to just two shots on goal. Later in the period, the Panthers got the job done once again with another stalwart showing on the penalty kill, this time surrendering zero shots on goal.
Despite taking the ice without two of their top defensemen and penalty killers in Ekblad and Mikkola, who are both sidelined by injuries, the Panthers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
“I think we did a good job,” forward Eetu Luostarinen said of the team’s work while shorthanded. “We know they have a lot of guys that can make plays and score. I think we didn’t give them too much time and space.”
Evening the score for Colorado, Devon Toews fired a shot through traffic that went off the cross bar, hit Sergei Bobrovsky’s back and then fluttered into the net to make it 1-1 at 18:18.
A grinder of a second period, the two teams combined for just five shots at 5-on-5.
After being shut down on the power play once again early in the third period, the Avalanche found the go-ahead goal they needed at even strength. Notching his second goal of the game, Toews found the back of the net with another point shot to make it 2-0 at 8:54.
From there, Bobrovsky and Blackwood went save for save for several minutes.
A great goaltending battle, Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves, while Blackwood made 26.
“He’s our wall back there,” Verhaeghe said of Bobrovsky. “I can’t say enough.”
Sealing the win for Colorado, Miko Rantanen made it 3-1 with an empty-net goal at 18:03.
“I think it was a tight game, a 2-1 game,” Verhaeghe said of the third period. “It’s a game we’re used to playing in. The last time game we got the better of it. It just took one break. We had our chances and looks to get back into the game or to tie it up. It didn’t go for us.”
THEY SAID IT
“We supported pretty well, moved the puck pretty well. Both team’s penalty kill was really strong. It was going to be a tight game.” – Paul Maurice
“It was kind of back-and-forth of a game. We had our chances, but they capitalized on one, which was kind of the difference. Yeah, we’re comfortable playing in those games. We usually pull it out.” – Carter Verhaeghe
CATS STATS
- Aleksander Barkov went 8-for-13 (61.5%) in the face-off circle.
- Dmitry Kulikov blocked a team-high three shots.
- Tobias Bjornfot saw 15:29 of ice time in his season debut.
- Sergei Bobrovsky made 10 high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Panthers will close the book on their two-game road trip with their first-ever trip to Salt Lake City for a matchup against the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
To find a place to watch the game in South Florida, click HERE.
