‘The belief is fantastic’: Panthers pull off three-goal comeback for second straight game

There’s an alchemy to a comeback in the NHL and the Florida Panthers seem to have perfected it.

For the second straight game, the Panthers erased a three-goal deficit Thursday, storming back to beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-4, after trailing by three with less than 30 minutes to go.

Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau dished out four assists during the comeback and scored an empty-net goal, star defenseman Aaron Ekblad scored twice and tied the game on a power-play goal with 18:03 remaining, and rookie center Anton Lundell scored the game-winning goal with 11:55 left to complete a second straight stunning comeback in Sunrise.

Florida (16-4-3) is only the ninth team in NHL history to come back from three goals down in back-to-back games and, right now, the Panthers — also known these days as the “Comeback Cats” — are perfectly suited to pull off these types of wins.

They’re “as deep as any team in the league,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said, and talented enough, even with star center Aleksander Barkov still sidelined by a left knee injury. “The belief,” as Ekblad put it, “is fantastic,” especially after pulling off two come-from-behind wins in three days. They also do just enough poorly on the defensive end — and, lately, start slow enough — to make a comeback necessary.

“We were pretty bad in the first. I don’t know why,” Lundell said, “but then, what happened after, we respond.”

Florida gave up three goals on seven shots in the first 15 minutes, then another in the second just 1:19 after defenseman Lucas Carlsson cut the Sabres’ lead to 3-1 with his first NHL goal. The Panthers’ response was six goals, one goalie change and perhaps the save of the year by Eetu Luostarinen all in the final 27:28 to finish the game on a 6-0 run.

Buffalo’s fourth goal came on only its 12 shot of the game, so Brunette pulled Sergei Bobrovsky in favor of fellow goaltender Spencer Knight with 8:44 left in the second period and the comeback could begin.

Forward Sam Reinhart scored with 7:28 left in the second, then Ekblad added another with 4:20 left in the period to make it 4-3 at the start of the third period. Ekblad scored again just 1:07 into the third and Lundell finally delivered the game-winner less than eight minutes later — and a little more than a minute after Luostarinen kept the game tied with an incredible effort on the goal line.

“I went to thank him,” Lundell said with a big smile. “If he wouldn’t have stopped that, my goal wouldn’t have counted.”

Said Brunette: “We were really lucky.”

With 12:38 left, Knight ranged way to his right to deny Sabres forward Rasmus Asplund for one of his 19 saves in relief. The sprawling effort, however, left the goal unguarded and Zemgus Girgensons wound up with a clean look at a wide-open net. Buffalo’s versatile forward fired and Luostarinen swung at the puck from behind the goal, just barely keeping the potential go-ahead goal out of the net.

After more than a minute of nonstop action passed, Lundell beat Sabres goaltender Aaron Dell for his own go-ahead goal and another comeback was complete.

After what they did Tuesday, the Panthers — and the 11,751 inside FLA Live Arena — knew a comeback like this was doable.

On Tuesday, Florida was down by three at the end of the second period and this was against the Washington Capitals, a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, which spent most of the game outplaying the Panthers. Florida answered two rocky periods with one of the best in franchise history, outshooting the Capitals, 27-2, to become the first team in the NHL this season to come back from three down at the start of the third period.

Somehow, the Panthers followed up one of the best periods in franchise history with one of the worst less than 48 hours later and found themselves in the same spot again Thursday, albeit against a far inferior Buffalo team.

Still, the Sabres (8-12-3) did rack up 31 shots and put Florida on its heels, even getting three power plays in the third period with a chance to take the lead or tie the game.

The Panthers killed off all three and went 1 of 3 on their own power plays to escape another potentially brutal loss to a bad team.

Right now, Florida is far from perfect — the need for two three-goal comebacks speak for itself and it has also given up four goals in four straight games — yet it still has the best record in the Eastern Conference with a little more than half the season done.

The Panthers have won in blowout fashion and won close games. They’ve won shootouts and defensive struggles.

They’re built to win playing almost any style. They’d just rather not do it like this too much.

“In this league, you don’t get away with it really often,” Brunette said. “We got away with it twice this week.”