In Dallas, the Florida Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad scored with 10 seconds left in extra time on Saturday for a 4-3 win over the Stars.
“I was very discouraged,” Ekblad said. “That one hurt, especially because in that situation it’s kind of the last thing you’re thinking about when you have a clear-cut 2-on-1 to stay onside. Looking down at it, it hurt, but [assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson] put me right back out there and gave me the opportunity. And [Sergei Bobrovsky] made a huge blocker save, that’s the only reason we were able to do that and go win that game.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the win.
Florida improved to 21-9-4.
Denis Gurianov, John Klingberg and Joel L’Esperance were the Stars’ strikers.
“It’s frustrating that we can’t keep winning and get on a run,” Klingberg said. “It’s a new game tomorrow and it’s been the same the whole season. We’re just going to have to move on. The only thing we can do is focus on what we can do.”
All three Panthers regulation goals came from Carter Verghaeghe who had strikes on the power play, and shorthanded and even strength.
“That’s a big deal,” Ekblad said. “There’s a depression when you go through these things. You know three games doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot in this league, and it’s really important in terms of seeding and positioning for us to win, so it was one of those things where we talked about taking it one period at a time, and we did tonight. We didn’t get flustered.”
It was a natural hat trick.
Dallas dropped to 11-11-9.
Anton Khudobin made 23 saves in the loss.
“We just keep pushing hard,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “Did we play well enough to win? Yeah, so it’s how you play the game. And we’re playing well enough, so it’s our lack of finish at the right times, that’s all it is. If we weren’t playing well, that’s a whole other conversation.”
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