Panthers wrap up homestand with 3-2 win over Kraken

SUNRISE — The Panthers wrapped up their first homestand of the season Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. 

After trailing 2-0 in the second period, the Panthers would rally back for their fourth win of the season. 

Tonight’s scoring was opened by former Panther Jared McCann. 7:58 into the first, McCann pulled a slick forehand-backhand mov to beat Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.

After holding a one goal lead for the remainder of the first, Seattle would add to their lead 7:34 into the second period. Whilst screening Bobrovsky, Eeli Tolvanen redirected Jaden Schwartz’s shot in for his first goal of the season — Seattle lead 2-0.

Less than a minute after conceding their second goal of the night, the Panthers went to the power play for the first time in the game.

With the second unit starting the power play, Gustav Forsling would get the Panthers on the board. From the top of the point, Forsling walked into a one-timer after Anton Lundell fed him near the top of the zone. Forsling’s first goal off the season would cut the Kraken’s lead in half. 

“It’s nice to be honest,” Forsling said about scoring his first goal of the year. “It gets some confidence but you know it’s not really my job to score, but it’s always nice.”

Riding high on momentum after getting on the board, Florida would add to their total — tying the game just 11 seconds later.  

Similar to Seattle’s second goal of the night, Florida would tie the game off a deflection from in front. Sitting in the slot, Matthew Tkachuk tipped in a point shot from Dmitry Kulikov for  his first goal of the season. The game was tied at 2-2.

“That tip is how he scores so many of his goals,” head coach Paul Maurice said postgame. “It’s good that he got back to feeling good about them.”

With the Panthers buzzing off their two unanswered goals, Sam Reinhart appeared to give the Panthers the lead with his eighth goal of the season. Seattle decided to challenge the play for offsides. Upon review, Reinhart was in fact offsides. The goal would come back, and the two sides would go into the final break tied at 2-2. Reinhart would not get that goal back tonight, officially ending his goal streak at five games. 

Still tied late into the third, with a little luck on their side, Florida would take the lead. 

Josh Mahura rimmed the puck into Seattle’s zone for what looked to be a routine dump-in. Unfortunately for Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, the puck would take a weird bounce off the boards, bouncing out to the front of the net right to an unmarked Nick Cousins. All Cousins had to do was tap the puck into an open goal to give Florida the lead with 5:52 remaining in the third. 

“I thought our line did a lot of good things well, I thought we had lots of chances to put the puck in the net,”  Cousins said. “Obviously we get a fortunate enough bounce there in the third.”

The rest of the way out, Sergei Bobrovsky would keep the door shut for the Panthers. He’d end the night with 30 saves in what would be his third win of the season.

The Panthers set the tone early on in the season at home — finishing off their first homestand of the season with a 3-1-0 record.

“You’ve got to feel good at home,” Maurice said. “Our travel is different than most other teams’ travel… the road can be a real grind for us, home has to be a good place.”

Florida will hit the road for a three-game road trip, with their next stop in familiar territory – Boston.