Florida Panthers vs Pittsburgh Penguins Match Player Stats On Mar 08, 2022

Carter Verhaeghe scored the eventual game-winning goal and added an assist as the visiting Florida Panthers held off the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Tuesday for their fourth straight win.

Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad and Anthony Duclair also scored and Aleksander Barkov added two assists for the Panthers, who blew a two-goal, first-period lead before getting the next two.

Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves.

Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby each had a goal and an assist while Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins, who lost their second in a row.

Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry stopped 25 shots.

Reinhart gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 12:43 of the first period. He carried the puck from his own end to the low slot. His initial shot bounced up off a Penguins player, and Reinhart batted the puck out of the air and under the crossbar.

The Panthers pushed it to 2-0 at 14:38 of the first on Ekblad's rising shot from the center point through traffic.

Pittsburgh tied it with quick-strike goals early in the second.

Rust, playing in his 400th game, made it 2-1 at 3:07. His shot from the right circle went off Ekblad's stick in front.

Nine seconds later, Guentzel tied it. Crosby won a faceoff to Bobrovsky's right and deftly directed the puck with his skate to Guentzel, who scored on a one-timer short side from above the hash marks.

Duclair tied his career high for goals in a season with his 23rd to restore Florida's lead, 3-2. From the slot, he swept a feed from Jonathan Huberdeau past Jarry at 7:02 of the second on a power play. That gave Huberdeau his league-leading 60th assist.

Inside the far blue line, Maxim Mamin sprang Verhaeghe on a two-one-one with Barkov against Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Verhaeghe kept the puck and shot it under Jarry's glove at 11:11 of the third period to give the Panthers their second two-goal lead, 4-2.

With Jarry pulled, Crosby closed the deficit to 4-3 with 2:06 left when his sharp-angle shot went in, once again off Ekblad's blade.

--Field Level Media