Brad Marchand scored in overtime as the Florida Panthers mounted a dramatic rally on Saturday, overcoming a third period deficit to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 at Grand Casino Arena.
Minnesota got power play goals from Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek and s shorthanded goal from Matt Boldy, but was stifled defensively much of the night, most notably at even strength. Filip Gustavsson had 30 saves for the Wild in the loss.
Boldy snapped a 2-2 tie in the third, scoring on a shorthanded breakaway to give the Wild their first lead, only to see Florida tie it back up on the same power play.
Florida, making its only visit to St. Paul this season, got 18 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky in the win.
After Minnesota killed an early Florida power play, the Panthers got a picture-perfect rebound to take the first lead. Gustavsson made the initial save on a long-range shot, but the puck caromed to the top of the crease where leading scorer Sam Reinhart was waiting to pop it in.
The Wild answered quickly, converting on their first power play when Kaprizov scored for the third time in the past two games.
Both teams got notably healthier before the game, with Minnesota activated Boldy off of injured reserve after he had missed four games with a lower body injury. Florida had been without its second-leading scorer, Marchand, for seven games due to an undisclosed injury, but he returned to the lineup to face the Wild.
Both made a first period impact, with Boldy assisting on Minnesota’s goal, and Marchand scoring on the power play late in the first to give the visitors a 2-1 lead after one.
After killing a penalty early in the middle frame, Minnesota pulled even with another man-advantage goal when Joel Eriksson Ek snapped in the rebound of a Kaprizov shot. It was the 12th goal of the season for Eriksson Ek and his first since returning from a six-game injury absence.
The bulk of the game was played with a three-person officiating crew, after linesman Steve Barton was injured and left the game in the first period. While trying to avoid a check in front of the home bench, Barton was knocked over the boards and appeared to hit his head.
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