Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) – Brad Boyes scored the game-winning goal in
overtime as the Florida Panthers clawed their way back for a 4-3 win over the
Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Florida went on the power play 1:26 into the extra session after Brad Stuart
went off for tripping. Once the Panthers got set up in the offensive zone,
Jussi Jokinen sent a pass from the right circle down to Jonathan Huberdeau
below the goal line. Huberdeau dished the puck to Boyes, who raced in from the
blue line and fired the deciding marker past Reto Berra for the win.
Brandon Pirri, Aleksander Barkov and Sean Bergenheim all scored and Boyes had
an assist for the Panthers, who were coming off a tough 2-1 shootout loss to
Washington on Saturday.
“We are getting chances from everybody now,” Boyes said. “Tonight we were
really working well together. We got the pucks in deep and we eliminated their
speed.”
Roberto Luongo made 30 saves in the win.
Tyson Barrie, Alex Tanguay and Gabriel Landeskog each lit the lamp and Berra
stopped 32-of-36 shots for Colorado, which has lost four straight games.
The Panthers, who scored just two total goals in their last four games, owned
a 2-0 lead after the opening stanza.
“We came back after a really bad first period,” Berra said. “We needed the
wake up call.”
Jokinen sent a soft pass to Pirri, who ripped a laser past Berra from the high
slot for a 1-0 Panthers lead 4:43 into the game.
Aaron Ekblad joined the offensive rush and slipped a pass over to Barkov, who
made it a 2-0 game with a wrist shot with 6:57 to play in the opening stanza.
Colorado roared back with three straight goals in the second.
Barrie’s blast from the top of the left circle on the power play got the
Avalanche on the board near the midway point of the frame.
Ryan O’Reilly sent a pass from atop the right circle down low to Landeskog,
who emerged from the right corner and wristed a shot over Luongo to tie the
game 31 seconds later.
Tanguay’s left-circle shot gave Colorado the lead with 6:19 to play in the
second. Bergenheim, however, re-directed Dylan Olsen’s shot from the left
point to tie the game four minutes later.
Game Notes
Barkov scored his first goal since Jan. 14 of last season against the
Islanders … Boyes scored his 34th career game-winning goal … Tanguay tied
Valeri Kamensky for ninth place on Colorado’s all-time scoring list with 414
points … Luongo won his 375th career game, surpassing John Vanbiesbrouck for
13th in all-time wins and is 13-0-2 in his last 15 games against the
Avalanche.
