RECAP: Verhaeghe's OT strike leads Panthers past Knights in Game 3

SUNRISE, Fla. --If you need a big goal, make sure to flip the swag switch from off to on.

Adding yet another clutch playoff goal to his ever-growing resume, Carter "Swaggy" Verhaeghe wired home a wrist shot just 4:27 into overtime to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at FLA Live Arena on Thursday.

Despite Vegas still leading the series 2-1, the Panthers are now feeling very much alive.

"To win in overtime in front of our own fans, it gives us a little bit of momentum," said Verhaeghe, who also scored the game-winning goal in overtime in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins in Round 1. "We saw it right from the start in the first period. We fed off the crowd a little bit."

Making history, the win marked the first-ever in the Stanley Cup Final for the Panthers.

"I've been here a long time, and this is the best time in my life right now," said Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, who's in his 10th season with the organization. "To play in front of that crowd and to battle for something that I've been dreaming of since I was born is huge. To be a Florida Panther right now, I'm really proud of that."

Showing off his newfound dad strength, Brandon Montour, who welcomed his first child in between Games 1 and 2, opened the scoring for the Panthers when he collected a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and ripped a shot past Aiden Hill to make it 1-0 at 4:08 of the first period.

"Nice to see that one go in," Montour said. "That's for my baby boy."

With the Panthers getting into penalty trouble, the Knights made them pay on a 4-on-3 advantage when Mark Stone tipped a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-1 at 16:03.

Back on the man advantage in the second period, Jonathan Marchessault buried a one-timer to put the Knights up 2-1 with his team-leading 13th goal of the playoffs. Feasting with the extra attacker, Marchessault has scored a goal on the power play in every game of the series thus far.

From there, Bobrovsky made big save after big save to keep the Panthers in position to strike. Of his 25 saves, 18 came in the second and third periods. According to the numbers over at Natural Stat Trick, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner stopped 11 of 12 high-danger shots that he saw.

"It's a big win and we can build from it," said Bobrovsky, who leads the playoffs with 12 wins.

After missing the majority of the first period after absorbing a big hit from Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar, Tkachuk provided some late-game heroics for the Panthers once again when he buried a rebound with 2:13 left on the clock to make it 2-2 and force overtime.

When asked about his injury, Tkachuk said there was no way he wasn't coming back.

"We're that type of team where we know what the end goal is," said Tkachuk, who leads the Panthers in goals (11), assists (13) and points (24) in the playoffs. "We don't know how we're going to get there, but we're going to do everything we can to give ourselves the opportunity."

After killing off a power play for the Knights to start overtime, the Panthers went on the offensive. And, as it has been so much over the team's last two playoff runs, it was Verhaeghe that came up with the clutch goal when he beat Hill with a wicked shot to lock in the 3-2 win.

With that goal, the Panthers feel the series is now only just beginning.

"Everybody will probably say they were leading most of the game, which they were," Tkachuk said. "At the end of the day, nobody cares how we got here. It's a 2-1 series. We came into this game just wanting to win one game, and next game it's the exact same thing going to Game 4."

CATS QUOTES

"The coaches gave us a pretty clear plan. I thought the guys executed unbelievably tonight. We defended very well. We didn't give much space for them. That's a big win for us." -- goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky

"I can't even count how many huge saves [Sergei Bobrovsky] made tonight. At least 10. We're so confident with him back there. Yeah, he's amazing." -- forward Carter Verhaeghe

"It's more the mood on the bench in the last five or six minutes. There's that belief that it can happen. I think that quite captures it. There's an intensity on the bench about good things that can happen. Once we get to overtime, we feel pretty good." -- head coach Paul Maurice

"It could go any way at the end there. We stuck with it. It's a pivotal point in the series. Now it's a matter of recovering and coming back with the same effort."-- forward Sam Reinhart

CATS NOTES

• Brandon Montour's 10 points are the most in a single postseason in franchise history.

• Matthew Tkachuk's 24 points are tied for the most in the NHL in this year's playoffs.

• In addition to netting his fourth-career overtime goal, Carter Verhaeghe also became the only player in NHL history to score multiple overtime goals in consecutive postseasons.

• The Panthers led 23-18 in scoring chances at 5-on-5.

• Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 20 shots he faced at even-strength.

• Marc Staal blocked a team-high four shots.

• Sam Reinhart saw a team-leading 25:59 of ice time.

• The Panthers are the 11th franchise in NHL history to win their first Stanley Cup Final game in overtime.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers will try to get the Stanley Cup Final back to even when they face off against the Knights in Game 4 at FLA Live Arena on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.