Panthers rally to defeat Penguins in OT in season opener

Carter Verhaeghe scored his second goal 1:37 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers won their season opener 5-4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Thursday.

After Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Evan Rodrigues on a breakaway at 1:29, Verhaeghe scored from the left face-off circle.
"It wasn't the way we kind of drew it up, but we'll take the win," Verhaeghe said. "We've got a lot of things to work on still. It's the first game. So we'll take the two points and move on."
Aaron Ekblad scored twice in the third period to tie the game, Aleksander Barkov had two assists, and Bobrovsky made 43 saves for the Panthers, who overcame nine penalties.
Jeff Carter scored his 400th NHL goal, Jake Guentzel scored in his 300th NHL game, and Casey DeSmith made 34 saves for the Penguins, who won one of two their first two games without centers Sidney Crosby (wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (knee). They opened the season with a 6-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
"To get three out of four points against two really good hockey teams, for me, we should take that as a positive," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "We know we can be better. There's areas, without a doubt, where we can improve. … I just thought our guys competed hard. That's a positive sign."
Ekblad scored goals 1:38 apart after Rodrigues gave the Penguins a 4-2 lead at 8:31 of the third. Ekblad shot into an open net with DeSmith impeded by a scrum in the crease, cutting it to 4-3 at 13:29, before sending a backhand off the crossbar and in to tie it 4-4 at 15:07.
"Crazy game, pretty wild," Ekblad said. "Resilient team. I only say 'Comeback Cats' because we've done it quite a few times in the last few years. We live on that mantra."

Verhaeghe put the Panthers ahead 1-0 at 9:17 of the first period with a wrist shot through traffic from above the right face-off circle.
Anthony Duclair made it 2-0 on a partial breakaway at 3:57 of the second period when DeSmith poked the puck away from Duclair and in off Penguins defenseman Mark Friedman.
Danton Heinen's power-play goal cut it to 2-1 at 11:45.
Carter tied it 2-2 when his attempted pass to Bryan Rust went off Ekblad's stick and in on the power play with 1:02 remaining in the second. He is the 101st player in NHL history, and seventh active, to reach 400 goals.
"I've scored a lot of those goals," Carter said. "You put it on net, a lot of times, something happens. So take them any way they can come. Hopefully I can hang around to score a lot more of them."

The Panthers took five penalties in the second period, when the Penguins scored their two power-play goals.
"We certainly changed the complexion there in that second period," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "You lose all momentum of a game and controlling what we're looking to do. They scored a couple power-play goals. Now, they're in the game and all of a sudden, we're down 4-2 and it doesn't look good."
Guentzel put the Penguins ahead 3-2 at 8:01 of the third after taking a wrist shot that caused Bobrovsky to drift from the crease. The forward got his own rebound below the goal line and banked a shot off Florida defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the crease.
Guentzel missed the game Tuesday because of the NHL COVID-19 protocol.
NOTES: The other six active players with 400 goals are: Alex Ovechkin (732), Crosby (486), Steven Stamkos (441), Joe Thornton (425), Malkin (424) and Patrick Kane (404). … Crosby is nearing a return after having wrist surgery Sept. 8; Malkin is expected to be out at least two months after undergoing knee surgery June 4. … Rust left after taking a hit from Weegar in the opening minute of the third. There was no update. … Pittsburgh was also without defenseman Mike Matheson, who is day to day with a lower-body injury, and forward Zach Aston-Reese (COVID-19 protocol). … DeSmith made his season debut; Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for the Penguins on Tuesday. ... Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist had two hits and two shots in 9:48 of ice time in his first game against the Penguins since being traded from Pittsburgh on Sept. 24, 2020. He won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. … Forwards Thornton and Sam Reinhart each made his Panthers debut. Thornton had one hit in 10:00; Reinhart had two shots in 18:32. … Florida forward Anton Lundell had two blocked shots playing 15:12 in his NHL debut.