Marchand scores OT winner in return, Panthers top Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Brad Marchand had two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist in his return from injury, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Minnesota Wild in overtime, 4-3, at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday.

Carter Verhaeghe made a backhand feed to Marchand, who snapped it into the back of the net at 3:00 of overtime. Marchand had missed the past seven games with an undisclosed injury.

“It was great to be back with the guys,” he said. “It was hard watching. But, yeah, it felt good to get back out there. Also, we need the points right now, so big win for us.”

Sam Reinhart also had a goal and an assist, Matthew Tkachuk had two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for the Panthers (27-20-3), who have won two in a row and five of their past seven games.

“A really unusual game with the power plays the way it unfolded, so I didn’t get the fourth line of the bench as much as I would have liked,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “… But you’re excited about every line you put on the ice because there’s a chance something good’s going to happen.”

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy each had a goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild (29-14-10), who have lost two of their past three (1-1-1).

“It was a choppy game, I think, with so many special teams throughout the game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “But I thought there’s different things that they do really well. At times, we handled it well and there’s things that we tried to put some pressure on them in certain areas. I think it was a little bit of a back-and-forth, obviously, with special teams being a huge factor in tonight’s game.”

Reinhart put the Panthers on the board 1-0 at 6:44 of the first period, getting the rebound of Aaron Ekblad's slap shot past Gustavsson from the slot.

Kaprizov tied it 1-1 on the power play at 9:17 when Boldy found him off the right post for a bank shot.

Marchand pushed it to 2-1 on the power play, putting a backhand shot from the slot past Gustavsson at 18:20.

Joel Eriksson Ek evened it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 4:33 of the second period after Kaprizov skated down the slot for the initial shot with Eriksson Ek cleaning up the rebound.

“I think it was back-and-forth,” Eriksson Ek said. “I think our first wasn’t very good, but I think we got a little bit better in the second and then, yeah, from there on, I think, just a lot of special teams. Hard game to get a real rhythm in.”

Boldy gave Minnesota its first lead of the game 3-2 at 12:09 with a short-handed breakaway, but Sam Bennett responded on the same power play just 1:02 later with a tap-in down low to make it 3-3 at 13:11 and send it to overtime. It was Boldy’s first game back after missing the past four with a lower-body injury.

“Yeah, that was huge,” Bennett said. “You could either sit back and be upset about that (Boldy's short-handed goal), or you could just go out there and get one back, and that’s what we did. So, big response, and that’s a big win in overtime."

NOTES: Marchand scored his 22nd career overtime goal, which ranks third in NHL history behind Alex Ovechkin (27) and Sidney Crosby (25). … Reinhart reached 25 goals for the fifth time in as many seasons with Florida. He tied the franchise mark for most consecutive 25-goal seasons set by Olli Jokinen (five from 2002-03 – 2007-08). … With an assist, Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes extended his point streak (one goal, eight assists) to five games. … Kaprizov has recorded his fifth consecutive multipoint game (three goals, nine assists).