Panthers Overcome Penguins on Matheson OT Winner

SUNRISE, Fla. — Mike Matheson scored 4:14 into overtime to lift the Florida Panthers over the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Thursday night.

Florida Panthers Mike Matheson
Florida Panthers Mike Matheson (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Evgenii Dadonov and Colton Sceviour also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had two assists. Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to help Florida win for the seventh time in nine games.

Marcus Pettersson and Jared McCann scored for the Penguins, and Casey DeSmith stopped 39 shots. Kris Letang had two assists.

The Penguins tied it at 2 when Pettersson’s shot from the blue line got through traffic at 8:17 of the third. The goal was Pettersson’s first of the season and second in his career.

Sceviour made it 2-1 when he took a drop pass from Barkov and poked in the puck from the slot with 2:28 left in the second. Barkov’s assist was his 300th NHL point.

Dadonov’s power-play goal gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Dadonov grabbed a rebound off the end boards and backhanded the puck between DeSmith’s pads at 5:22 of the first.

McCann tied the game at 1 with a short-handed goal against his former team. McCann’s shot from the right circle beat Luongo on the stick side with 6:09 left in the second period. The Panther have given up 10 short-handed goals this season.

The Panthers killed off a 58-second 5-on-3 in the second.

Notes: Penguins C Sidney Crosby tied Mario Lemieux’s team record of 915 games played. … G Matt Murray missed the game with an upper-body injury. … Fs McCann and Nick Bjugstad faced their former team for the first time since being traded for Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan on Feb. 1. The Panthers offered a video tribute to both players on the scoreboard. … Luongo played his 1,028th game and move one behind Patrick Roy for second place on the career list for goalies. Martin Brodeur is first with 1,266.

UP NEXT

Penguins: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Panthers: Visit the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

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Paul Gereffi, The Associated Press