Aleksander Barkov scored 24 seconds into overtime as the host Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 at BB&T Center in Sunrise.
Florida had trailed 3-1 early in the third period before mounting a comeback.
The victory was only the second for Florida in the eight game season series as Carolina went 6-0-2 against the Panthers (31-13-5, 67 points).
Carolina (31-10-6, 68 points) opened the scoring in the first period, getting a point shot from Dougie Hamilton that hit two Florida skaters before going past Chris Driedger at 3:25.
The Panthers tied the score at 1 with 24.9 seconds left in the opening period on MacKenzie Weegar’s one-timer from a Jonathan Huberdeau pass. Weegar ended up with assists on Florida’s other two regulation goals.
Hamilton later made it 2-1 on another long shot, this one coming on Carolina’s second power play chance 1:37 into the second.
Carolina opened it to a 3-1 lead early in the third period when Brett Pesce’s shot was kicked off the skate of Andrei Svechnikov and past goalie Chris Driedger at 3:01.
But then came the Panthers.
Florida made it 3-2 less than two minutes later when Gustav Forsling scored from inside the left circle.
At 6:20 of the third, the Panthers tied the game on a short-handed goal from Alex Wennberg as he scored on a rebound.
Driedger got the win for the Panthers by making 16 saves. Carolina rookie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 32 in the loss.
Carolina ended up 1-for-5 on the power play on Saturday night. The Panthers were 0-for-4 on Saturday and 1-for-13 in the two-game series.
Florida defenseman Keith Yandle moved into sole possession of second place for consecutive games played in NHL history.
Yandle, who owns the league’s active ‘Ironman’ streak, passed Garry Unger by playing in his 915th consecutive game Saturday. If Yandle continues to play, he could pass Doug Jarvis (964) for the league mark next season.
–Field Level Media