Panthers Keep Slim Playoff Hopes Alive With 3-2 Win Over Carolina
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami/AP) — As the saying goes, it isn't over until it's over.
Alexander Petrovic scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night.
Evgenii Dadonov and MacKenzie Weegar also scored to help the Panthers snap a three-game skid and pull five points behind idle New Jersey for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Florida has four games remaining, one more than the Devils. Roberto Luongo stopped 26 shots.
Derek Ryan and Trevor van Riemsdyk scored for Carolina, and Scott Darling finished with 32 saves.
On the go-ahead goal, Petrovic shot from the boards above the right circle and beat Darling with 7:58 left for his second of the season.
Carolina had tied it 2-2 with 6:12 left in the second it caught Florida on a line change, and Ryan backhanded the puck past Luongo for his 15th.
The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead on a goal by van Riemsdyk 3:44 in. Luongo blocked a shot from in front by Brock McGinn but van Riemsdyk slapped in the rebound for his third.
The Panthers answered 19 seconds later when Weegar's shot from the right circle went over Darling's glove for his second.
Dadonov gave the Panthers ahead 2-1 on a power-play goal with 9.1 seconds left in the first. Aleksander Barkov passed over to Dadonov in the slot and he flipped the puck off Darling's leg for his 27th.
NOTES: Barkov's assist on Dadonov's goal was his 50th, becoming the first Panthers player to hit that mark since Olli Jokinen had 52 in the 2006-07 season. ... Panthers forwards Frank Vatrano and Denis Malgin returned after missing the previous game with injuries. ,,, Carolina recalled D Roland McKeown from AHL Charlotte on Sunday.
UP NEXT:
Hurricanes: At Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Panthers: Host Nashville on Tuesday night.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
