Paul Maurice threw out a holy rage at his Florida Panthers players during Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Still chasing a place in the playoffs, they picked up valuable points by winning 3-2 in overtime at the Scotiabank Arena.
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The Big Cats head coach cheered on his men in the second half following the Leafs’ 2-1 win while his assistants struggled to focus on repelling Calle Jarnkrok’s goal for an offside. The Panthers prevailed, which turned out to be very important for the future.
Maurice was still boiling in the third period when Austin Matthews scored his 37th goal of the season and his team gave no sign of life. With exactly one minute left on the scoreboard, Sam Reinhart tied the game on the power play. In overtime, Brandon Montour completed the game started by Aleksander Barkov with a two-on-one.
With the win, the Panthers are just one point behind the playoffs and second among teams drafted in the Eastern Conference hosted by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Montreal Canadiens, whose fans would like to see Florida plummet down the table in the draft lottery, will be the team’s next opponents on Thursday.
Important win
The New York Islanders also played an important game against the Capitals in Washington. Everyone went home with points but it was the Isles who won 2-1 on penalties.
Five points ahead of the penguins, the representatives of the Big Apple are in a more comfortable situation, but cannot relax. Ilya Sorokin blocked 25 shots, then two more in the shootout to sign the win. Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri hit the target in this session.
The two goals after regulation time fell apart 2:30 in the second period. Pierre Engvall, assisted by Alexander Romanov, broke the ice, then Conor Sheary leveled the game for the Capitals.
On the backhand, Darcy Kuemper did well with 28 saves from 29 shots.