RECAP: Lyon roars again as Panthers secure gutsy win over Wild

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Alex Lyon stood on his head for the second straight game to backstop the Florida Panthers to a crucial 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
Improving to 23-20-5, Florida owns a 7-2-1 record over its last 10 games.
"A battler," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Lyon, who's gone 2-0-0 while filling in for Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight. "His personality is what you see in the net. He's scrambling, he's fighting for pucks. Every time he makes a save, the bench goes crazy.
"It seems to be right now very possibly the energy we need is a guy like that playing the way he's playing. We're looking for anywhere we can to get some juice, some fuel in the tank. He seems to be driving that. Every time he makes a save, the bench goes nuts and we get fired up."

With shots hard to come by for both teams during a defensive first period, the Panthers broke the ice with just 13 seconds left on the clock when Anton Lundell collected a pass from Aleksander Barkov on top of the crease, turned around and scored five-hole to make it 1-0.
Getting that entire sequence started was a steal from Sam Reinhart in the offensive zone.

Turning defense into offense once again, the Panthers doubled their lead in the second period when Eetu Luostarinen swiped the puck away from a Wild skater in the offensive zone, skated into the slot and beat Filip Gustavsson with a silky-smooth backhander to make it 2-0 at 1:40.
Answering for the Wild on the power play, Matt Boldy finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence by sending a shot past Lyon from right on the doorstep to make it 2-1 at 8:56. On a power play of their own, Carter Verhaeghe then sniped home a wicked shot to put Florida up 3-1 at 19:32.
Already without Aaron Ekblad, who exited early in the first period with an injury, the Panthers also spent much of the second period without both Gustav Forsling and Sam Bennett. Forsling eventually returned to the game, while Ekblad (upper body) and Bennett (upper body) did not.
When asked about the injuries, Maurice said there's a chance neither player misses any time.
Making it a one-goal game for Minnesota in the third period, Joel Eriksson Ek cashed in on a rebound on the power play to make it 3-2 at 4:37. But just over three minutes later, Forsling gloved down a floating puck before firing it into the cage to put the Panthers up 4-2 at 7:51.
"It felt like we played an even smarter game when our guys went out," Lundell said. "Our D stepped up. It's not an easy job to play with less D. Overall, I think we played really good as a team. We played a simple and smart game today."
With the Wild pulling its goaltender for a 6-on-5 advantage, Jared Spurgeon's shot hit off of Matthew Tkachuk's stick and floated past Lyon to make it 4-3 at 18:34. But with 39 seconds left, Reinhart corralled a pass from Lundell and fired a shot into the empty net to lock in the 5-3 win.
Making his first start with the Panthers, Lyon, who made 23 saves in relief during Thursday's win at Montreal, finished with 29 saves against the Wild, including going a perfect 21-for-21 against shots at 5-on-5.
"To me, these are the kind of games you play for," said Lyon, who had just 25 games of NHL experience entering tonight's tilt. "So many guys digging in, playing with five defensemen, and massive points on the line. To me, this is fun. This where you get to test your true mettle."

CATS QUOTES

"I feel like my game's been in a good spot. I feel like the way I play meshes well with the way the team tries to play. Same train of thought, just try not to think about it too much and keep moving forward." -- Alex Lyon on his two performances with the Panthers
"It feels good. We all like to play smart. We don't like to just give up the puck. We like to play with the puck, play with give-and-go's. It feels like we all think the same way. It makes it even more easier to play." -- Anton Lundell on playing with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart

CATS NOTES

• Sam Reinhart extended his point streak to seven games.
  - Aleksander Barkov extended his point streak to seven games.
  - Eetu Luostarinen has set a new career-high with 10 goals.
  - Anton Lundell has lit the lamp in three of the last four games.
  - Ryan Lomberg owned a team-best 78.57 CF% at 5-on-5, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
  - Brandon Montour logged a team-high 25:51 of ice time.
  - Radko Gudas delivered a team-high seven hits.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (23-20-5) will open up a two-game road trip with a matchup against the New York Rangers (25-14-7) at Madison Square Garden on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.