Tkachuk scores another OT winner, propels Panthers past Hurricanes

Matthew Tkachuk finished a feed from Sam Reinhart at the 1:51 mark of overtime to help the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Saturday night for a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.

Less than two days after scoring the winner in a four-overtime thriller, Tkachuk came through again, this time on the power play after a faceoff win by the Panthers. Sam Bennett found Reinhart on the left side, who zipped the puck across to Tkachuk for the easy finish against a sprawled-out Antti Raanta.

Tkachuk immediately skated toward the door on the boards leading to the Florida locker room, motioning to his teammates that it was time to roll out and celebrate.

Just like that, Florida won on the road for the eighth straight time in the playoffs and improved to 6-0 in overtime in the postseason.

Aleksander Barkov had a highlight-reel goal for Florida in the second period, while Sergei Bobrovsky again befuddled Carolina with 37 stops.

Jalen Chatfield scored Carolina's lone goal in the opening minutes, while Raanta finished with 24 saves.

Florida has home-ice advantage for the next two games, starting Monday with Game 3 in Sunrise.

Each team also had a goal overturned on a video-review challenge for an unpenalized offside while entering the zone leading up to the scores.

Associated Press 2023