Aleksander Barkov scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to lift the Florida Panthers past the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Friday in Sunrise, Fla.
Uvis Balinskis also scored for the Panthers, who have gone 9-2-1 in their last 12 games.
Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, including two on Dylan Holloway in overtime.
Oskar Sundqvist scored and Joel Hofer made 25 saves for the Blues, who have won just one of their last six games.
The teams exchanged offensive rushes during the fast-paced first period. The Panthers earned a 10-7 shots advantage, but the Blues took a 1-0 lead.
Sundqvist scored his goal after saving a goal. At the Blues’ end, he dove to keep Mackie Samoskevich from scoring into the empty net with Hofer out of position.
Then Sundqvist put the Blues up midway through the period. Alexandre Texier made a behind-the-back pass to Sundqvist breaking to the left post.
The Panthers generated multiple chances in the second period, including Matthew Tkachuk’s shot while crossing in front of the net.
Balinskis tied the game 1-1 with 9:02 left in the period by converting Barkov’s cross-ice pass from the left circle with a blast into the open side of the net.
Bobrovsky kept the game tied by sliding to his right to stop Cam Fowler moving in from the left point. Then he denied Jordan Kyrou stepping in for an open power-play shot.
Sundqvist nearly scored a power-play goal early in the third period. Justin Faulk passed the puck to the front of the net, where Bobrovsky stopped Sundqvist twice from the top of the crease.
Florida forced multiple turnovers and icing violations to keep the Blues hemmed in during the closing minutes, but St. Louis survived the onslaught to force overtime.
Barkov decided the game by drawing a penalty in overtime and scoring from the slot on the resulting power play.
–Field Level Media
