Anton Lundell’s goal with 52 seconds left in the third period lifted the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 road win over the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City on Wednesday.
Lundell’s eighth goal of the season capped a back-and-forth contest between teams trying to get into playoff position. After winning the faceoff, Sam Reinhart skated toward the goal. He shot the puck toward the net, and Eetu Luostarinen deflected it toward Lundell, who batted the puck into the net.
Sam Bennett scored twice for his first multi-goal game of the season and added an assist for the Panthers. Carter Verhaeghe finished with two points, including his fifth goal in four games.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for Florida, which has won three in a row for the first time since the start of the season.
Dylan Guenther had his first two-goal game of the season and Jack McBain also scored for the Mammoth. John Marino assisted on a pair.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots, including 18 in the third period. However, it was not enough as Utah lost its third straight and seventh in nine games.
Guenther started the scoring on a counterattack breakaway with 8:37 left in the opening period. It started when Florida’s A.J. Greer rang a shot off the post past Vejmelka. Marino scrambled to the puck and spotted the forward, who had just come on the ice.
Utah’s lead stood for nearly eight minutes before Verhaeghe added to his hot streak. The forward’s ninth of the season came with 43 seconds left in the period when Aaron Ekblad found Verhaeghe, who was open by the side of the net and scored his ninth of the season on a point-blank redirection.
Bennett gave Florida the lead early in the second, scoring twice in less than two minutes. The second goal, with 16:36 remaining, was assisted by Verhaeghe, who pounced on a giveaway in the Mammoth defensive zone.
Just 13 seconds later, though, Guenther got one back on another breakaway. Utah tied it exactly 11 minutes after Guenther’s second goal when McBain gathered the rebound of Sean Durzi’s shot and slid it around Bobrovsky.
Florida outshot Utah 19-4 in the third period.
