The Florida Panthers were all but doomed. There were less three minutes separating them from a near-insurmountable series deficit and, with no goaltender in their net and an extra skater on the ice, they were one shot away from overtime or one away from an almost-certain Game 4 loss to the Washington Capitals.
A shot from Garnet Hathaway from his own zone went just wide of the open goal. It would have effectively crushed the Panthers both in the game and, maybe, this first-round series in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Instead, Florida had life again and Sam Reinhart used it. With 2:04 left in regulation, the forward scored from the slot, corralling a bouncing puck and flicking it past Ilya Samsonov to force overtime. With 15:03 left in the first sudden-death overtime period, forward Carter Verhaeghe sniped a shot over the left shoulder of Ilya Samsonov. The Panthers beat the Capitals, 3-2, at Capital One Arena in Washington.
