Carter Verhaeghe delivers overtime game winner for Never-say-die Panthers as Florida battles for 3-2 OT Game 3 win to cut Vegas’ Stanley Cup Finals lead to 2-1
- Tkachuk scored Florida’s tying goal with two minutes remaining in the third
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The Golden Knights were on the verge of taking a 3-0 lead over the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals, but yielded a latw-tying run to Matthew Tkachuk in the waning moments of the third period before handing the game-winner to Carter Verhaeghe in extension .
Now, the never-say-day Panthers go into Saturday’s Game 5 in Sunrise, Florida trailing just 2-1 with Thursday’s 3-2 victory in overtime.
Florida looked poised to cut Vegas’ lead in half in the first period as Brandon Montour scored on assists from Matthew Tkachuk and Eric Staal.
But the Golden Knights didn’t stay down for long, tying the game 10 minutes later on a power play goal from Mark Stone, assisted by Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore. Marchessault added another power play goal on assists from Jack Eichel and Stone in the second period for a 2–1 lead.
But as was the case throughout the postseason, the Panthers were again saved by Tkachuk, who scored the tying goal with two minutes remaining after Florida had just shorted Sergei Bobrovsky for the man advantage.
Carter Verhaeghe is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the winning goal
Knights goalkeeper Adin Hill watches as Matthew Tkachuk scores the late equalizer for the Panthers