RECAP: Panthers 4, Golden Knights 3 (OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. – Hop on the bus!

Finding the back of the net with 17 seconds left in overtime, Gustav Forsling lifted the Florida Panthers to a huge 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Extending their point streak to four games, the Panthers now sit at 4-2-1.

“I liked that game tonight an awful lot,” said head coach Paul Maurice. “Down a guy and they are a deep team, and they got a heavy back end. I thought that’s as good of game we have played all year.”

When it’s Florida and Vegas, you can always count on high-intensity excitement.

This game -- even with the Panthers playing down a man due to injuries -- was no different.

Taking the early part of the first period to feel each other out, the Panthers had the lone shot in the first 6:11 of the game.

As the period went on though, as any Panthers and Golden Knights game does, the intensity started to pick up.

Putting on a show with just over two minutes left in the period, diving and sprawling out, with and without a stick, Sergei Bobrovsky made consecutive big saves to keep the game scoreless.

Joining in the save effort, Adam Boqvist jumped in with a glove save of his own.

Breaking through at the end of the period after a turnover by the Panthers, Tanner Pearson beat Bobrovsky high at 19:27 to put Vegas ahead 1-0.

Answering early in the second period, Sam Reinhart keeps on rolling.

Beating Ilya Samsonov with his fifth of the year, Reinhart’s goal tied the game 1-1 at 1:09.

Getting the crowd going yet again with the “BOB-BY” chants, Bobrovsky kept the score even with some more miraculous saves.

Able to apply some pressure on Vegas, the Panthers just missed on some opportunities that went across the goal crease during their period of peppering.

Retaking the lead for Vegas, while screening Bobrovsky, Keegan Kolesar found the back of the net with a deflection at 14:15 to make it 2-1.

Drawing their first power play opportunity after a slashing call on Nicolas Roy, the Panthers made the most of it.

On a beauty of a sequence, Anton Lundell dropped a pass back to Carter Verhaeghe, who went across the seam to find Sam Bennett for a tap-in goal at 19:20 to bring the score to 2-2.

His second assist of the game, Lundell earned his third multi-point effort of the season.

Another opportunity on the man-advantage following Brayden McNabb’s delay of game penalty, the Panthers came inches away from taking the lead, as Evan Rodrigues rang the post.

Unable to capitalize, Brett Howden followed up the penalty by getting by Bobrovsky with a backhand to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 lead at 7:30.

Not going down without a fight, the Panthers answered again.

Evening the score at 3-3 with his third goal of the season, Eetu Luostarinen put in a rebound at 12:42.

With the game eventually getting to overtime, the Panthers pocketed the extra point when Forsling fired a cross-ice feed from Bennett into the twine to lock in the 4-3 win.

“The last couple of games we’ve been doing something good,” said Forsling. “We’re playing the right way, we’re playing hard. We’re missing a few guys, but we work hard.”

THEY SAID IT

“We just try to keep it simple. Get pucks on net like the last goal we scored. Getting those rebounds and chances.” - Eetu Luostarinen

“We're missing two huge parts of our lineup and we're finding a way. Everyone is looking really good. All the new guys are fitting in so nicely.” – Carter Verhaeghe

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart extended his point streak to five games.

- Aaron Ekblad blocked a team-high seven shots.

- 11 of the Panthers’ 17 skaters had multiple shots on net

- Carter Verhaeghe had a team-high 11 scoring chances.

- Anton Lundell won 62.5% of his faceoffs.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made six high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will finish off their three-game homestand, before heading to New York and Finland, when they host the Minnesota Wild at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.