RECAP: Penguins 5, Panthers 4 (OT)

PITTSBURGH – Clawing back from a three-goal deficit, the Florida Panthers saw their comeback fall just short in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Still rewarded for their efforts with a key point, the Panthers now sit at 15-9-2.

“They felt alright about their game in terms of us getting going in the right direction, and put up a bunch and didn’t give up a whole lot,” said head coach Paul Maurice. “Didn’t like to lose it.”

The driving force of Florida’s comeback, Matthew Tkachuk logged two goals and two assists.

With his second point of the game, he recorded the 600^th point of his career.

“He’s got a little edge to his game,” said Maurice of Tkachuk. “He’s got to have a little snarl, and when he does that, his hands are just right on.”

Initially appearing to break the ice for the Panthers in the first period, Jesper Boqvist had a goal taken off the board after the Penguins successfully challenged for offside.

Gaining some momentum from their challenge, the Penguins broke the ice when Owen Pickering beat Spencer Knight with a five-hole shot to make it 1-0 at 9:20 with the first goal of his NHL career.

Extending the lead for Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin ripped a wrist shot to make it 2-0 at 10:32.

Splitting the difference, Aleksander Barkov found Tkachuk for a goal to make it 2-1 at 17:24.

Dominating possession, the Panthers controlled 68.89% of 5-on-5 shot attempts in the first period.

But even with numbers like that, puck luck sometimes wins outs.

Padding the lead for the Penguins in the second period, Kris Letang turned an odd bounce off the boards into a goal to regain the team’s two-goal cushion and bring the score to 3-1 at 6:54.

Despite outshooting the Penguins 24-10 through two periods, goaltender Tristian Jarry kept the Panthers from clawing closer for the remainder of the period.

Adding to what looked to be an insurance goal in the third, Marcus Pettersson flipped in a shot at 3:45 to give the Penguins a 4-1 lead.

Of course, you can never count out the Comeback Cats.

Starting the fire, Sam Bennett scored from the slot to cut the deficit to 4-2 at 6:55.

Now sitting on 13 goals, Bennett has lit the lamp in four straight games.

Finding the back of the net for the second straight game, Adam Boqvist, with a little help from his brother Jesper and Tkachuk, beat Jarry with a wrist shot to make it 4-3 at 8:58.

Getting a chance on the power play, the momentum of the Panthers kept on rolling.

Tying the game at 4-4, Tkachuk scored his second goal of the game at 11:27.

With the action eventually getting to overtime, the Panthers just missed out on turning their one point into two when Bryan Rust scored on a 2-on-1 rush to lock in the 5-4 win for the Penguins.

In defeat, the Panthers led 80-46 in shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“When we go out there, we can wear teams down and I think we showed that tonight in the third period,” said Adam Boqvist. “We move on from this and go to Philly.”

THEY SAID IT

“Just get back to basics. We try to do everything as good as we can, every small detail, and not try to cheat the game as well.” – Anton Lundell on what can lead to offense

“It's what leads to success. We have a lot of guys on our team that can do that, and I think that's why we're pretty successful.” – Evan Rodrigues on being able to play up and down in the lineup at different positions

CATS STATS

• Matthew Tkachuk recorded his eighth four-point game as a Panther.
• Sam Bennett won a team-high 11 face-offs.
• Eetu Luostarinen racked up a team-high five hits.
• The Panthers led 19-9 in high-danger shot attempts.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will travel to the City of Brotherly Love.

Wrapping up their tour of Pennsylvania, they’ll take on the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the action, visit FloridaPanthers.com/CatsOnTap.