The Florida Panthers took a vital victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 after overtime. Thanks to the victory, Florida is kept in the fight for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Anton Lundell scored the game’s opening goal after only one minute of the first period. Eetu Luostarinen stole the puck near the Toronto goal, and passed to Lundell who scored his 10th goal of the season.
Florida turned a late deficit into victory. Sam Reinhart tied the game at 2–2 in the final minute of the third period. In overtime, Brandon Montour scored Florida’s winning goal after a pass from Alexander Barkov.
Florida thus put an end to its four-game losing streak in the count’s time. Thanks to the win, Florida is now just one point behind Pittsburgh in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Florida has seven games left in the regular season, while Pittsburgh has eight games left to play.
The New York Islanders can feel pretty confident about their playoff spot after beating the Washington Capitals 2-1 on penalty kicks last night. The Islanders, who have six games left to play, now have five points to their credit on Pittsburgh, and six points to Florida. For Washington, this was the fifth loss in the last six games.
I top meetings in the Western Conference between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild tog Minnesota en 4-2-seger. The NHL’s most effective Finnish player, Mikko Rantanen, was this time without a point, and was also in the bottom three of the back-to-back goals. Artturi Lehkonen saknades från mästarna Colorados laguppställning.
NHL Result:
Washington – NY Islanders 1-2 on penalties
Toronto – Florida 2–3 after overtime
Eetu Luostarinen FLA 0+1, +1, 17.35
Alexander Barkov FLA 0+1, 0, 24.06
Anton Lundell FLA 1+0, +1, 13.43
Colorado – Minnesota 2-4
Mikko Rantanen 0+0, -3, 23.46
Video images from Viaplay
