![](anthers12-5-5ML: +162FLA -1.5, O/U 6.5ML: -183 CBS Sports Home Fantasy NFL NCAA FB NBA NCAA BB MLB NHL Golf MMA WWE Boxing Soccer NASCAR XFL WNBA Big3 Horse Racing Tennis High School WSOP Olympics Women's WC Shop PBR Rugby PRCA Stubhub Play Golf <main id="page-content" class="highlander-page-container game-tracker">RECGAMETRACKERBOX SCOREPLAY-BY-PLAYRECLIVEBOX SCOREPLAY-BY-PLAYTWEETSPanthers score 5 straight goals to beat Ducks 5-4 in OTSUNRISE, Fla. The Florida Panthers are showing a capacity for comebacks the NHL hasn’t seen since Wayne Gretzky’s prime.Aaron Ekblad scored his second goal of the game 22 seconds into overtime and the Panthers rallied with five straight goals to stun the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 Thursday night.Brett Connolly sparked the comeback with two goals in 27 seconds in the second period, and Dominic Toninato tied it with 4:23 remaining in the third. Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves, and Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau each had two assists. The Panthers won three straight games for the first time this season.Ekblad beat Gibson from the right circle to cap Florida’s rally from a 4-0 deficit. The Panthers staged a similar five-goal comeback to beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 12th.The Panthers are the second team in NHL history to overcome a deficit of at last four goals to win multiple times in a season. The other was Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers in 1983-84.“The first half was our poorest game up to this point, then the last 22 minutes and into the third period and overtime was a lot better,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “Bobrovsky made some spectacular saves in the third.”Ondrej Kase had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, and Rickard Rakell, Nick Ritchie and Max Jones also scored. John Gibson stopped 23 shots.Connolly got Florida going with 1:07 left in the second, scoring on a shot from the high slot. He connected again on a flubbed shot from the slot with 40 seconds left. His misfire skipped past Gibson, who got a changeup when he was expecting a fastball.“We didn’t play very good in the first two periods, there’s no question,” Connolly said. “But we got fortunate there at the end of the second with my lucky goal at the end there. That wasn’t the prettiest goals I’ve ever scored, but guys kept working.”That was the turning point of the game, according to Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins.“It was the last couple of minutes in the second where it’s a simple play; we talk about moving the puck quickly. We don’t. We turn it over. It’s, bang, in our net. And that just gives them a little bit of jump,” Eakins said. “You don’t want to give skilled teams like that hope. We handed it to them.”Ekblad cut the deficit to one with a sharp shot from the point in the first multigoal game of his career, and Toninato tied it by poking in a rebound.“We’re up by four. We lost. It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Ducks defenseman Erik Gudbranson. “You gotta take this and feel everything that comes with it and understand it and just do a better job next time.”Jones put Anaheim ahead 2:45 into the game by picking up a loose puck in front and poking it in.The Ducks then scored three times in the second. Ritchie buried a one-timer, Rackell fired one in on a power play and Kase made it 4-0 after a Florida turnover. Connolly scored 14 seconds after Kase.NOTES: Ducks F Jakob Silfverberg assisted on Jones’ goal and leads the team with nine goals and has 18 points. ... Panthers D MacKenzie Weegar missed his fifth consecutive game with an upper-body injury and isn’t expected back until next week.UP NEXTDucks: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on SaturdayPanthers: Visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday---More NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
The Anaheim Ducks, who have lost six of their past seven games are set to face the red-hot Florida Panthers on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla."We're a team in transition," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said, explaining Anaheim's recent rough patch, which includes four losses in regulation over a seven-game stretch and a 4-6-0 road record.The Panthers are also a team in transition -- but in a more positive way. After not making the playoffs for the past three years, the Panthers brought in Joel Quenneville, who won three Stanley Cup titles as the coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.Quenneville has the Panthers on a 4-1-0 run in their past five games, including Tuesday night's 5-2 home win over the Philadelphia Flyers during which five different Florida players scored goals."All four lines are capable of making plays and scoring," Quenneville said. "We feel we have balance in our lineup. No matter what line you're on, we expect you to create offense and zone time." But even with that balance, the Panthers, on most nights, get most of their scoring from their top line of center/captain Aleksander Barkov and wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov.Huberdeau leads the team in points (28) and is tied for the team lead with Dadonov in goals (10). Barkov leads the team in assists (20) and has seven goals.Defensively, the Panthers have held their past two opponents -- the New York Rangers and the Flyers -- scoreless in the third period, and much of the credit has gone to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky."'Bob' was unreal in the net for us," Barkov said of Bobrovsky following the win over the Flyers. "We let the Flyers shoot from the outside and cleared the rebounds." The Panthers, who are 5-2-2 at home this season, are also a healthy team right now, with only fourth-line winger Jayce Hawryluk on the injured list.Thursday will close Florida's four-game homestand, and a victory would give the Panthers a 3-1-0 record during that stretch.The Ducks, meanwhile, are at the start of a rebuilding effort. Before missing the playoffs last season, they had qualified six straight years, making the Western Conference Finals twice during that span.To direct their current rebuild, Ducks general manager Bob Murray hired Eakins, a 52-year-old native Floridian who had previously served as coach of the Edmonton Oilers.Eakins, a defenseman in his younger days, became just the second native Floridian to play in the NHL and the first to do so for the Panthers.With the Ducks, Eakins inherited a group that was last in the NHL last season in goals scored with 199. Winger Jakob Silfverberg, who led the team with 24 goals last season, is once again atop the Ducks' list with nine tallies.Captain/center Ryan Getzlaf, who led the Ducks with 48 points last season, is once again on the top line. He has 15 points, tied with winger Rickard Rakell for second place on the team, just behind Silfverberg (17).Goaltending is an Anaheim strength with veterans John Gibson, 26, and backup Ryan Miller, 39. Gibson is 7-10-0 with a 2.90 goals-against average. Miller is 3-0-2 with a 2.61 GAA.Overall, the Ducks want to get younger and faster, but that transition -- as Eakins has indicated -- can be a slow process.Like the Panthers, the Ducks are mostly healthy. Only defenseman Josh Manson (lower body) is on the injured list.--Field Level Media
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
Anaheim Ducks
Florida Panthers
Pick Center
NHL
FINAL (11/21/2019)
LegendNextDoor
