RECAP: Panthers 7, Blue Jackets 6 (OT)

SUNRISE, Fla. – Can you meme your way to a win?

Apparently, yes you can.

Kicking off their “6-7 Weekend,” the Florida Panthers came from behind to earn a thrilling 7-6 victory in overtime over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amerant Bank Arean on Saturday.

“I don’t know what’s going on with this 6-7 thing,” smirked forward Sam Bennett, who netted the game-winning goal in the extra frame. “It’s funny that’s how it ended tonight.”

Improving to 13-12-2, the win snapped a four-game losing streak.

“Emotionally, we needed that game,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

Fighting tooth and nail for a much-needed win, here’s how Florida’s night unfolded.

In the waning seconds of a power play, Damon Severson tipped in a shot from fellow defenseman Ivan Provorov to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 7:40 of the first period.

Evening the score for the Panthers after Mackie Samoskevich forced a turnover in the offensive zone, Evan Rodrigues lured Elvis Merzlikins out of his net with some extreme patience before firing the puck into the back of the exposed cage to make it 1-1 at 9:47.

Later in the first period, the Blue Jackets though they’d regained the lead when Brendan Gaunce scored off of his skate, but it was taken off the board after a successful challenge by the Panthers, who argued the puck had actually been kicked past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Score one for the video team.

Finishing the period strong, the Panthers led 6-0 in shots on goal over the final 10:39.

But within the blink of an eye, the momentum shifted back to the opposition after the intermission.

After Dmitri Voronkov lit the lamp to put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 at 5:26 of the second period, Miles Wood took advantage of a miscue, skated in all alone and slipped a shot through Bobrovsky’s five-hole to make it 3-1 at 5:57 and put the Panthers into a hole.

The two goals came 31 seconds apart.

Not taking their foot off the gas, the Blue Jackets continued to press and tacked on another goal when Kirill Marchenko roofed a backhander from the slot to make it 4-1 at 10:24.

Then, it was Florida’s turn to attack.

Just 51 seconds after Marchenko’s goal, Carter Verhaeghe tipped in a point shot from Seth Jones to cut Florida’s deficit to 4-2 at 11:15. Not done there, Verhaeghe, right after Florida’s power play expired, went to the net and scored again to slice the deficit to 4-3 at 13:11.

Heating up in the goal-scoring department, Verhaeghe has now found the back of the net five times in his last five games, while also dishing out five assists during that stellar span.

“It was nice to feel that momentum, feel the energy in the building,” Bennett said.

With the home crowd cheering them on, the Panthers found the equalizer soon after when Jones buried a blast on the power play to wipe the slate clean and make it 4-4 at 16:12.

Putting the Blue Jackets back on top late in the second period, Cole Sillinger got a lucky bounce off a defender during a chaotic sequence to bring the scored to 5-4 at 18:26.

At 2:27 of the third period, Isac Lundeström scored to give Columbus at 6-4 lead.

Bringing the deficit back to a single goal for the Panthers, Brad Marchand flew around a defender and tucked a shot past Merzlikins’ outstretched left pad to make it 6-5 at 4:21.

“This team is built on not quitting and being able to battle through adversity,” Marchand said.

Following a pair of important penalty kills, the Panthers finally found their way back to even when Anton Lundell, not long after exiting the box, capitalized on an overly aggressive play from Merzlikins by firing the puck into a semi-abandoned cage to make it 6-6 at 14:18.

Pulling Merzlikins out of position was some great pressure from Eetu Luostarinen.

Returning to the lineup after missing eight games due to burns sustained during a freak barbequing accident, Luostarinen’s impact was noticeable throughout the whole game.

“Honestly, felt pretty good,” said Luostarinen, who saw 18:03 of ice time in his return. “Just happy to be out there, compete with the boys. Great win today. Let’s keep going tomorrow.”

With the action eventually shifting to overtime, the Panthers put themselves in position to complete their comeback by killing off a threatening 4-on-3 power play for the Blue Jackets.

Keeping things from turning into a coin flip that is the shootout, Bennett locked in the 7-6 win for the Panthers when he beat Merzlikins on a breakaway with 3.2 seconds remaining on the clock after being sprung free by an absolutely perfect pass from Marchand.

For a team looking for a spark, you couldn’t have asked for a better night.

“It’s great to see,” Bennett said. “This team, for a long time, has showed a lot of fight, a lot of resilience. We haven’t really been able to get many comeback wins this year, so that’s big for our group. It shows we’re going to fight to the end every game. It was nice to get rewarded tonight.”

THEY SAID IT

“Unbelievable play. Great pass over. He was making incredible plays all night. I was just fortunate to be on the ice with him.” – Sam Bennett on Brad Marchand’s pass to set up his game-winning goal

“Kind of felt like you needed to win that game because it was still there and we all felt it was still there. All the pieces were part of that win. The stats won’t be kind to Sergei (Bobrovsky), but he made some big saves toward the end of that to keep it right.” – Paul Maurice on coming from behind to beat the Blue Jackets

CATS STATS

- Carter Verhaeghe recorded his 78^th multi-goal game with the Panthers, moving him into a tie with Scott Mellanby for the sixth most in franchise history.

- With a goal and two assists, Brad Marchand became the fifth player in Panthers history to record a three-point game in the regular season at age 37 or older.

- Sam Bennett became the fourth player in franchise history to score a game-winning goal in the final five seconds of overtime.

- The Panthers earned a win after overcoming a multi-goal deficit in two periods for the first time in franchise history.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will close their “6-7 Weekend” when they wrap up their back-to-back with a battle against the New York Islanders at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.