RECAP: Verhaeghe nets two as Panthers earn point in OT loss to Penguins

On the second half of a back-to-back, the Florida Panthers picked up an important point in a 7-6 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
Sitting at 23-21-6, Florida has gone 7-4-2 during a road-heavy schedule in January.
"We're just so much different a hockey team than we were a month ago," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "They rallied around each other, battled as hard as they could to come in and get a point on the road. In the circumstances that we're in, I couldn't be more proud of them."

After weathering an early push by the Penguins, Sam Reinhart found the puck right next to the net and fired a shot past Casey DeSmith to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 6:42 of the first period.
On the power play soon after, Matthew Tkachuk followed up on a point shot from Brandon Montour and sent the rebound under DeSmith to extend Florida's advantage to 2-0 at 8:08.
Netting at least one goal with the extra attacker in 11 of their last 13 games, the Panthers own a league-best 42.1% success rate on the power play dating back to Jan. 1.
Getting the Penguins on the board, Rickard Rakell re-directed a shot from Evgeni Malkin past Alex Lyon to make it 2-1 at 10:56. Just one minute later, Danton Heinen jumped on a rebound in the slot and sent the puck into the back of the cage to make it 2-2 at 11:56.
At 18:14, Kris Letang re-direct a shot past Lyon to put Pittsburgh up 3-2.
Cleaning the slate heading into the first intermission, Carter Verhaeghe chased down a long clear from Aaron Ekblad and poked the puck past DeSmith as he came out of his net to try and shut down the breakaway to suddenly make it a 3-3 game with 41 seconds left on the clock.
"I think I'm just trying to shoot more," Verhaeghe said. "I'm playing with some great players. They're finding me on the ice in some great positions to score goals. I'm shooting more, and they're going in."
On the penalty kill in the second period, Tkachuk stole the puck in the neutral zone and sent a pass to Reinhart. Flying into the offensive zone, Reinhart then sent the biscuit to Aaron Ekblad, who snapped in a shorthanded goal in transition to put the Panthers back on top 4-3 at 10:34.

Back on the power play, the Penguins capitalized when Sideny Crosby slipped behind the defense before beating Lyon off his backhand on a breakaway to make it 4-4 at 19:19.
Making an impact in his first game back in the lineup since Jan. 14, Colin White briefly regained the lead for the Panthers when, after some great forechecking, he collected a pass from Nick Cousins and snuck the puck around DeSmith's pad to make it 5-4 at 4:10 of the third period.
With the fourth line continuing to chip in for the Penguins, Drew O'Connor cashed in on a loose puck around the blue paint to make it 5-5 at 10:29. Just over four minutes later, Malkin blasted home a blistering one-timer on the power play to send the Penguins ahead 6-5 at 14:30.
Netting his career-high 25th goal of the season and making sure the Panthers wouldn't leave the Steel City empty handed, Verhaeghe pounced on a turnover in the offensive zone and skated around DeSmith before tucking the puck into the cage to make it 6-6 with 2:32 left in regulation.
Earning a power play in overtime, the Penguins captured the second point when Kris Letang one-timed the puck past Lyon, who was screened by Crosby, to lock in the 7-6 win at 4:06.
"We battled back all game," Verhaeghe said. "It was really eventful. We stuck with it. We were even-keeled the whole way and trusted the way we played. I liked our game."

CATS QUOTES

"It seems like we've just been on the road right now. It'll be nice to go home and play in front of our home fans. It's comfortable there. It'll be nice." -- Carter Verhaeghe on the upcoming slate of games in Sunrise
"You want it so bad for them because they've got nothing left. They gave what they had to give. Each guy had a piece of the game where he tried to make an impact. It's a tough way to lose a hockey game, and it's over." -- Paul Maurice on his players giving it their all against Pittsburgh

CATS NOTES

• Brandon Montour extended his point streak to seven games.
  - Aaron Ekblad is the only defenseman in franchise history with two career shorthanded goals.
  - Aaron Ekblad recorded the 12th three-point game of his career.
  - Carter Verhaeghe has scored at least one goal in five of his last six games.
  - Aleksander Barkov extended his point streak to nine games.
  - Gustav Forsling blocked a team-high six shots.

WHAT'S NEXT?

With two games left until the All-Star break, the Panthers (23-21-6) will return home to host the Los Angeles Kings (27-17-6) at FLA Live Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.