TORONTO (AP) — Brandon Montour scored 1:41 into overtime and the Florida Panthers rallied to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Wednesday night, snapping a four-game skid.
Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart also scored to help the Panthers get their first win since snapping a 6-0-1 stretch in a loss at Philadelphia on March 21st. Alex Lyon stopped 38 shots as Florida pulled one point behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Zach Aston-Reese and Auston Matthews scored for the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, and Ilya Samsonov had 26 saves.
In overtime, Aleksander Barkov brought the puck up the left side on a 2-on-2 rush and sent a cross-ice pass to Montour who quickly fired it past Samsonov for his 14th.
The Panthers trailed 2-1 until Reinhart tied it with 1 minute left in regulation with a power-play goal as he got a pass from Aaron Ekblad and fired a one-timer from above the left circle through traffic and past Samsonov.
ISLANDERS 2, CAPITALS 1, SO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri scored in the shootout and New York increased its lead in the wild-card race.
Trade deadline pickup Pierre Engvall scored his second goal in two games and Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves for the Islanders. New York got its second consecutive win — and first in six shootouts this season — to move five points up on Pittsburgh for the first Eastern Conference wild card.
Conor Sheary scored in regulation for Washington and Darcy Kuemper had 28 saves. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored in the tiebreaker. The Capitals have lost five of their last six to fall out of the playoff race.
WILD 4, AVALANCHE 2
DENVER (AP) — Frederick Gaudreau scored two short-handed goals and Filip Gustavsson stopped 39 shots to lead Minnesota.
Marcus Johansson and Sam Steel also scored for the Wild, who improved to 16-1-4 in their last 21 games and moved three points ahead of Colorado and Dallas atop the Central Division.
Bowen Byram and Lars Eller scored for the Avalanche, who lost for just the 10th time in their last 34 games (24-7-3). Alexandar Georgiev finished with 25 saves.
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The Associated Press
