Victor Fasth had the last word in Sunrise on Saturday night as he stopped all three Panthers shooters to secure his third win of the season and two points for the Edmonton Oilers.
Fasth stopped 35-of-37 shots that hit him and saw another 20 either miss him or get blocked as the Panthers put together 57 shot-attempts in the losing effort.
At the other end of the rink, Roberto Luongo stopped 32-of-34 shots but was unable to stop Nail Yakupov in the shootout.
The Panthers put 14 shots on Fasth in the first period and 13 of those shots were good scoring chances. They were able penetrate the Oilers defense through strong zone entries and aggressive forechecking which saw each line test Fasth to the limit of his abilities. The Oilers swift neutral zone play got the better of the Panthers as Huberdeau went off for elbowing and Jokinen was sent off for for slashing within a few seconds of each other. The 5-on-3 was killed off due in part to an active stick by captain Willie Mitchell who disrupted an Oilers pass that was headed to a locked and loaded Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Sean Bergenheim’s missed breakaway opportunity moments into the second period would come back to haunt the Panthers as minutes later Jordan Eberle would come in alone on Roberto Luongo and beat him high to the glove side for his 12th of the season.
As is tradition, the Panthers did not take to trailing lightly; they tightened up and tied the game on Erik Gudbranson’s 2nd of the season, a seeing-eye wrist shot from the point that went bar-in past Fasth.
The action would continue to roll back and forth with both team amassing 21 shots on net three quarters of the way through the second. The Panthers would take the lead when Jonathan Huberdeau scored his 8th of season, snapping a three game goal-less drought by jamming home a rebound off a Dmitry Kulikov shot that was whacked at by Aleksander Barkov before Dr. Hu potted the go-ahead marker.
The Cats would take two penalties back-to-back late in the period, as Jimmy Hayes was whistled for holding and Brian Campbell for high sticking. Taylor Hall ripped a shot off the post and Luongo made key saves off a wide open shot from the slot and a Jeff Petry blast from the point before the first penalty was killed. The Oilers came up empty on the second powerplay to finish off the second.
The Oilers started the final frame with a 27-22 shot advantage and a 34-32 shot-attempt advantage but it was the Panthers who came out strong, killing off the remainder of the penalty and sustaining pressure in the offensive zone that generate a strong scoring chance.
Fasth was able to keep the guys in front of him in the game with two big saves off of Boyes after a sloppy turnover at the Oilers’ blue line at the 5 minute mark.
Taylor Hall pulled a classic “coaches hate that” move by taking an offensive zone hooking penalty while trying to contain a Panthers breakout. The powerplay would have an impact in the game but not in the way the Panthers would have liked as Matt Hendricks notched his 6th of the season after taking a Boyd Gordon pass, his 100th NHL assist, off the rush and wristing it past Luongo to tie the game at 6:32.
With two minutes left in regulation the Panthers would get a golden opportunity to walk away with a win after Anton Lander was sent off for holding. The Panthers could not close it out and the third period ended as the first began with the two teams tied.
The extra frame saw back and forth action with both goalies answering the call when needed, the highlight being Roberto Luongo robbing an Oiler one time chance that got the fans to their feet.
The Panthers gained a point in the loss and gained some ground on the Bruins, now trailing by four points with four games in hand.
An unfortunate result after a strong effort that showed the Panthers push back after a weak second half to the game by putting it all on the table and controlling all of overtime.
5-on-5 Shot Attempt Chart (1/17/15 – Oilers @ Panthers)
The Panthers are back in action Monday the 19th against Vancouver, their last game before the All-Star Break.
