Utah Falls to Florida, 2-1, in Overtime

SUNRISE, Fla. - With 41 seconds left in the overtime period, Sam Bennett scored his second of the night to secure a 2-1 win for the Florida Panthers. Sean Durzi scored Utah’s lone goal and goaltender Karel Vejmelka had 30 saves on 32 shots in his 16^th straight start. Despite the loss, Utah had a strong performance and picked up a point for their effort.

“Really good bounce back game,” head coach André Tourigny shared postgame. “Really, proud of the effort, really proud of the way we showed up in that game. Starting by (Vejmelka), I think he was rock solid, showed a lot of resilience and a lot of character. I think Sean Durzi was really solid, not just his goal, the way he played, the way he fights, his compete level. (Stenlund) same thing.

“(Yamamoto) I think brought good energy and our group made good plays as well,” Tourigny continued. “I think (Schmaltz) was solid as well. So, there’s a lot of positives in our game and as a team we won a lot of battles, we were tough to play against. We played a tough opponent in a tough schedule, really proud of the guys.”

It was a much stronger start for Utah as the visitors had their chances and limited Florida’s opportunities in turn. When he needed to be Vejmelka stood strong in net, turning away the Panthers chances with good rebound control. There were periods of time where each line was connected with After 20 minutes, it was a 0-0 game with Utah outshooting Florida 6-5.

“I loved our intensity today,” Durzi reflected postgame. “I thought we had the right mindset. What happened in Tampa, happened in Tampa … proud of a lot of guys today. A lot of good efforts, disappointed we didn’t get that one though.”

The Panthers broke through two and a half minutes into the second period with a power play goal. Aleksander Barkov found Bennett on the doorstep and Bennett capitalized for his 24^th of the season. The Panthers created traffic down low with both Bennett and Sam Reinhart net front.

Penalty trouble continued for Utah in the second period as the team took a total of four penalties in the middle frame. Despite allowing a goal on the first penalty, Utah’s penalty kill came up big, keeping the 10^th best power play from scoring on their three other opportunities.

“The second (period), we got in trouble because we took too many penalties,” Tourigny explained. “We got in the box too much. But still, our PK kept us in the game, we fought back, we held on. (Vejmelka) was big.”

The third period started with a Utah power play which turned into 4-on-4 hockey just 55 seconds into the man-advantage. Josh Doan’s strong defensive play forced a turnover, Barrett Hayton collected the puck, and the forward showed his speed as he skated up ice. Hayton found Sean Durzi who quickly shot and scored, tying the game, 1-1.

“It was obviously a good stick on 4-on-4, (Hayton) made a great pass, it went in,” Durzi recounted his goal. “I’m just happy because we talked about not forcing things, just sticking to our game play. We knew we hadn’t scored in five periods and just happy to see one go at even strength and obviously just wish we got the job done.”

Both teams continued to push late in the third and Utah saw its netminder stand strong in net. Utah played an energized and connected game to keep the game tied at 1-1 and force overtime.

In the extra frame, Vejmelka turned away shot after shot, keeping Florida off the board. With 41 seconds left in overtime, Sam Bennett got past Utah’s netminder and secured the Panthers win.

Other Observations from Tonight’s Game:

Utah had to dig deep as they played over half the game with only five defensemen. Olli Määttä suffered a lower body injury during the second period. In the second intermission, Utah announced Määttä would not return. The defenseman played just over six minutes and Coach Tourigny didn’t have an update on his status postgame.

It was Kevin Stenlund’s first trip back to South Florida after winning the Stanley Cup with the Panthers last season. Florida honored the Utah forward with a video montage during a TV timeout in the first period.

Up Next:

Utah heads to Chicago for the final stop of a three-game roadtrip. You can catch Utah back in action at Delta Center on Apr. 1 when the Calgary Flames are in town. Tickets are available here!