In Newark the New Jersey Devils held a 6-2 lead heading into the third period over the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers rallied with four goals in the third including two from Alexander Barkov to tie the game, 6-6, and send it to extra time.
The Panthers won it in the extra session on a goal from Gustav Forsling scored with 1:45 gone.
“We know we can come back in any game,” Barkov said. “I think during the second intermission, we just had to forget about it. We still have 20 minutes. We just had to keep going, keep finding our game and that’s what we did.”
Both Barkov goals came with the extra attacker.
“He’s been Mr. Clutch,” Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said of Barkov. “In the big moments, he comes through and he was money when it counted. I love to see a little bit of that late game heroics for him because it builds confidence. We’re going to need those going forward.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.
Spencer Knight made six saves to get the win.
“It’s been a lot of fun to be to be part of this group,” Barkov said. “Winning helps a lot but also playing fun hockey. We’re a really talented group, learning from each other every day, every game, every practice.”
Yegor Sharangovich hit for a hat trick for New Jersey.
“You can’t feel comfortable when you know that team could score the way they do,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “They’re the highest-scoring team in the League (4.10 goals per game). Sometimes you’ve got to make a real tough play under duress, and we didn’t make enough of them.”
New Jersey dropped to 24-38-6.
Jack Hughes, Janne Kuokkanen, and Andreas Johnsson added single markers for New Jersey.
Brandon Montour and Forsling started the third period rally to get the Panthers within, 6-4.
“Coming back and winning like that doesn’t happen too often,” Montour said. “We didn’t like our first two periods. We were playing slow and made some silly mistakes that cost us, but I don’t think there was any doubt in the room. Guys were still kind of fired up.”
Radko Gudas, Ben Chiarot ,and Ben Chiarot also scored for the Panthers.
Andrew Hammond made 34 saves in the loss.
“We should be talking about an unbelievable hat trick by [Sharangovich], a great game by him, a big win by us,” New Jersey’s Damon Severson said. “Unfortunately, we’re talking about a great hat trick by him and a loss by us.”
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