FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Panthers - Game 3 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Panthers – Game 3 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (14-6) vs Florida Panthers  (13-6)

 

The Florida Panthers bounce back with a win in overtime, defeating the Golden Knights 3-2 in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Final. 

It is game 3 of the Golden Knights vs Panthers series. 

The Stanley Cup Final has shifted to Sunrise, Florida, where the Vegas Golden Knights were determined to take a 3-0 series lead, but the Florida Panthers were more determined as they won in overtime 3-2 in Game Three.

Vegas only needed to hang on a little longer, with less than a minute left in the third period with a one-goal lead until Matthew Tkachuk scored with open space to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Carter Verhaeghe scored 4:27 into overtime with a wrist shot from inside the blue line for the overtime win.

“We’re the Cats,” said Verhaeghe after his fourth career playoff overtime goal. “We have whatever lives we have, but it’s awesome. It shows how great our team is, and the guys on our team have no quit in them.”

The Florida Panthers are 7-0 in overtime in the playoffs right now, and it’s their first win in a Cup Final. They were 0-6, including getting swept in the 1996 Final by the Colorado Avalanche.

The Golden Knights had a lot of missed opportunities to extend their lead during the third period, including the power play they were on going into overtime. Still, they now will have to go back to the drawing board and get ready for Game Four on Saturday.

“I thought we were doing a lot of things correct,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We just couldn’t get the next one to put the nail in the coffin, so to speak.”

Cassidy said if the Golden Knights had properly executed their breakout before Verhaeghe scored, they wouldn’t have given up the game-winning overtime goal.

 

End of the first period in the Golden Knights vs Panthers series

Florida started the game correctly, scoring first for a 1-0 lead.

The start of periods 2 and 3 in the Golden Knights vs Panthers series.

Brandon Montour was the one to score first for the Panthers for a 1-0 lead, and it was the right moment for him since his wife just gave birth to a son. It was Montour’s first goal in 11 games.

“I feel like the last little bit, I obviously haven’t put it in the net, but I’m creating chances, making plays,” Montour said. “It just wasn’t getting in. It’s nice to get that one and see that one go in, and that’s for my baby boy.”

The Golden Knights were determined not to go down without a fight. With just over four minutes left in the first period, Vegas was gifted with a power play. They took advantage of that opportunity as Mark Stone scored, moving across the crease and using his backhand to redirect Marchessault’s shot during a 4-on-3 advantage for a 1-1 tie.

With a few minutes going into the second period, the Golden Knights changed the game’s tempo after they scored another power-play goal. This time, Jonathan Marchessault scored on the power play after beating Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky with a one-timer into the top left corner to a 2-1 lead.

“It’s a heck of a shot by him to be able to one-time that puck and get it up over his shoulder,” Jack Eichel said.

The goal for Marchessault was his fourth goal in three games in the series. He had 13 points (eight goals, five assists) during an eight-game point streak and 13 goals in the past 13 games.

The Panthers were 0-for-5 on the power play throughout the game, including after Marchessault’s goal but could not find an answer.

But despite that deficit, the Panthers still managed to claw back in the third period and overtime for a 3-2 win.

“All that was on our mind was get the win,” Tkachuk said. “It didn’t matter how we were going to be able to do it. It didn’t matter leading up what was going to happen. We just knew what the result had to be, and we got it.”

The final score in game 3 of the Golden Knights vs Panthers series was 3-2, Florida.

On Saturday, the Golden Knights will play the Florida Panthers in Game Four of the Stanley Cup Final at FLA Live  Arena. The puck drop is at 5:00 PM. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet (channel 313 on Cox Cable) and TNT (channel 18 on Cox cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.