Cousins, Panthers rally to edge Kraken

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Nick Cousins broke a tie with 5:52 remaining in the third period, and the Florida Panthers defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Cousins scored his first goal of the season after Seattle goalie Joey Daccord went behind the net to play a dump-in and the puck took an odd bounce off the glass, ending up on Cousins’ stick in the slot.

Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for the Panthers (4-3-0).

“It is one of those things where I thought our line did a lot of things well, we had a lot of chances to put the puck in and then got a fortunate bounce,” Cousins said. “It makes all the chances you missed earlier in the game not sting as much. Big win for our team. I thought [Bobrovsky] played really well, especially early. They took it to us.”

Jared McCann and Eeli Tolvanen scored, and Daccord made 35 saves in his third straight start for the Kraken (2-5-2).

“That one is on me,” Daccord said. “I should have stayed in the net. Late in a tie game, the stanchions stick out a lot here and it took an unfortunate bounce. I should have stayed in the net and given myself a chance to make the save. I feel like I let the team down.”

Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said: “He plays the puck really well and when it goes high up into the glass, you can get a bad bounce like we got there, unfortunately. It was a bad bounce at a tough time for us, that’s all.”

McCann gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 7:58 of the first period when he made a forehand-backhand deke at the right post.

Tolvanen extended it to 2-0 at 7:34 of the second period on a deflection in front.

The Panthers tied it with two goals in 11 seconds.

Forsling cut it to 2-1 on a power play at 8:53 with a one-timer from the point, and Tkachuk tied it 2-2 at 9:04 with a redirection of Dmitry Kulikov's shot.

It was Tkachuk’s first goal of the season.

Florida forward Sam Reinhart had a goal overturned with 11 seconds left in the second period after Seattle challenged for offside. His five-game goal and point streak ended (nine points; seven goals, two assists).

The Panthers went 3-1-0 on their first homestand of the season.

“You have to feel good at home,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “The road can be a real grind for us, so home has to be a good place for us. A big chunk of that is believing you are a good home team.’’

NOTES: Panthers center Aleksander Barkov had one shot on goal and played 20:12 after missing the previous game (3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday) with an illness. … It was the third of a four-game road trip for the Kraken, who visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.