SUNRISE, Fla. — For the second time in three days, the Florida Panthers were all but dead, stuck in a precarious hole and in need of a thrilling comeback to avoid falling to the brink of first-round elimination.
Of course, comebacks are what they do best and their most important one yet now has them on the verge of reaching the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs after a 5-3 win against the Washington Capitals in a pivotal Game 5 on Wednesday in Sunrise.
The Panthers were down 3-0 with less than 34 minutes left and then they roared back to life. Their three-goal deficit was gone in 7:51 and forward Carter Verhaeghe finally delivered them a 3-2 series lead when he beat Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov for a game-winning goal with 16:56 left.
