Tuesday turned out to be a great day for the Florida Panthers.
The day began with Aaron Ekblad participating in an optional morning skate and ended with Aleksander Barkov notching a hat trick to beat the New York Islanders, 3-2, in overtime. In between, the Panthers also locked up home-ice advantage for at least the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs and Jonathan Huberdeau took the league lead in points.
On Thursday, Florida (55-15-6) will have a chance to tie a franchise record with a 12th consecutive win, and lock up first place in both the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.
To get there, the Panthers had to weather another spectacular performance from Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and pull off their 27th come-from-behind win of the season.
Barkov scored one game-tying goal on a power play with 5:48 left in the second period, then another in a 4-on-4 situation with 3:58 left in regulation to force overtime in Elmont, N.Y.
Barkov swung his fist in the air and let out a sigh of relief while the 17,255 at UBS Arena groaned. Florida needed 41 shots on goal, but it was eventually able to force a 3-on-3 extra session and survive an upset bid from the already-eliminated Islanders.
Once there, Barkov only needed 20 seconds to win the game, beating the Islanders (35-32-9) down the ice, fielding a stretch pass from Huberdeau near the crease. With 4:40 left in the five-minute period, Barkov cut to his right and tapped the game-winning goal past Sorokin to send the Panthers into yet another celebration.
Ekblad skates with Panthers
The Panthers are still hoping Ekblad will be able to return from his right knee injury at some point during the first round of the Cup playoffs and the star defenseman took a major step in his recovery Tuesday.
The 26-year-old Canadian joined Florida on its two-game road trip and participated in the Panthers’ optional morning skate Tuesday on Long Island, FloridaHockeyNow.com reported. Ekblad has missed more than a month after injuring his knee against the Anaheim Ducks in March, and the Panthers have already ruled him out for the rest of the regular season and placed him on long-term injured reserve ahead of the trade deadline last month.
Brunette said April 7 he expects Ekblad to return at some point in the first or second round of the playoffs, if Florida gets there. Ekblad has been skating in non-team settings for more than a week.
Prior to his injury, Ekblad was a contender for the James Norris Memorial Trophy and one of the top goal-scoring defensemen in the league. He’ll finish the regular season with 15 goals and 42 assists.
This is the second straight year Ekblad missed the final few months of the regular season because of an injury. He sustained a fracture in his leg with about two and a half months left in the regular season last year, and was not able to return in the postseason as the eventual-champion Tampa Bay Lightning knocked out the Panthers in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Ekblad’s timeline could have had him return for the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, if Florida had made it there.
