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Good morning to everyone but especially to...
THE FLORIDA PANTHERS
The Panthers have been counted out before: when they were outside the playoff picture, looking in. When they snuck into the postseason but drew the record-setting Bruins. When they went down to those Bruins, 3-1, in the first round. And again Thursday night, when they trailed the Golden Knights 2-1 late in Game 3, already down 2-0 in the series.
But, just like we've learned from South Florida's NBA team, we should never count out this South Florida NHL group.
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Matthew Tkachuk scored a 6-on-5 equalizer late in regulation, and Carter Verhaeghe nabbed the game-winner in overtime as Florida rallied to go from brink of elimination to right back in the thick of things with a 3-2 win over Vegas.
Brandon Montour opened the scoring early for the hosts, but Mark Stone knotted things later in the first period on the power play.Jonathan Marchessault put Vegas up with another power play goal in the second period. He's just the third player ever to have a power-play goal in three straight Stanley Cup Final games.It looked like that would be the winner until Tkachuk tucked home a rebound 17:47 into the third period. His 11 goals this postseason are a franchise record.Florida finally, crucially, got a penalty kill to start overtime before Verhaeghe rifled one past Adin Hill to give the Panthers their first-ever Stanley Cup Final win. They had been 0-6.Florida is 7-0 in overtime games this postseason, and its most clutch star deserve enormous credit for that, writes our Chris Bengel.
Bengel: "Tkachuk is entering some very elite company after scoring his fifth game-winning goal in the 2023 postseason. The Panthers star sits among several of the sport's all-time legends with five game-winning goals in a single postseason, a list including Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, and Jari Kurri... With the way Tkachuk has been playing in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, moving up the list wouldn't be out of the question."Florida will look to tie things up tomorrow.
