Panthers rally in third but fall to Ducks in shootout despite plenty of chances

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Oct 28, 2025

Published in Hockey

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SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers opened the second period on Tuesday with notable jump. They lived in the Anaheim Ducks’ zone, firing off shot attempt after shot attempt trying to break open a scoreless game.

But rarely anything hit the net during that seven-plus-minute flurry.

So, naturally, what happened next?

That’s right, the Ducks scored on a short-handed goal on their first shot on goal of the period and eventually built a two-goal lead.

The Panthers rallied in the third period to tie the game but ultimately fell, 3-2 in a shootout, at Amerant Bank Arena.

Florida is now 5-5-1 on the season. Anaheim improves to 5-3-1.

Anton Lundell scored with 8:48 left in regulation to break up the shutout and Sam Reinhart tied the game with 3:06 left by tipping in a Seth Jones point shot to force overtime and guarantee Florida picking up a point.

After a scoreless overtime frame, one in which the Panthers outshot the Ducks 5-1 and had a 9-2 edge in shot attempts, Anaheim won in the shootout with Troy Terry and Mason McTavish scoring on Daniil Tarasov. Lundell had the only make in the shootout for Florida, with Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues missing on their chances.

“It shows resiliency,” Jones said. “You get a point out of that game. Those all account later on in the season, so that was important. But we had a tough time putting ourselves in that situation.”

As such, Tuesday was the third consecutive game on this homestand, which wraps up Saturday against the Dallas Stars, in which the Panthers dominated puck possession and shot attempts.

But it’s also the second time in this three-game stretch that Florida failed to either sustain momentum or capitalize on chances. It was similar to the homestand opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 21, when the Panthers had an 81-43 edge in shot attempts but trailed 2-0 and never got closer than a goal in the eventual 5-3 loss.

Against Anaheim, Florida had a 33-17 edge in shots on goal and 74-54 advantage in shot attempts.

“It’s something we’ve got to go through here,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “There were parts of our offensive game that were right. The analytics will be good, but there’s other parts we’ve got to get better at.”

That flurry to start the second period on Tuesday was a microcosm of so much of the game.

Florida had a 17-1 edge in shot attempts in the opening 7:14 of the middle frame, a stretch that included a pair of power-play opportunities. But of those 17 shot attempts, only three made it to the net.

And then one minute into the Panthers’ third power play of the period, Florida fell behind 1-0 on a Leo Carlsson shorthanded goal. Back-to-back Florida penalties after that created a brief 5-on-3 power play for Anaheim. Cutter Gauthier capitalized with a snap shot that got past Tarasov, who was out of position, to make it 2-0 Anaheim with 7:33 left in the second period.

Tarasov, for what it’s worth, was a perfect 7 on 7 when the game was at even strength.

“We haven’t given him any run support, that’s for sure,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But it’s a good thing to go through at the start. He has to stay focused on every shot straight through the entire game.”

Lundell’s third goal of the season, which came off a feed from Mackie Samoskevich, cut the deficit to one goal. Lundell then won an offensive zone faceoff with Tarasov on the bench for an extra attacker with a little more than three minutes left to set up Jones, who fired from the point and had his shot re-directed in by Reinhart to tie the game.

Florida had a couple looks in overtime but, like so many other times during the game, couldn’t capitalize and fell in the shootout shortly afterward.

“We battled hard,” Lundell said. “We had our chances, but unfortunately we didn’t get the last goal.”

Florida played on Tuesday without veteran forward Brad Marchand and fourth-line winger Jonah Gadjovich. Marchand was out for personal reasons, while Gadjovich is out for at least a week with an upper-body injury.

Noah Gregor, who was with the Panthers in training camp on a professional tryout and signed a two-way deal ahead of the season, made his Florida debut on the fourth line with center Cole Schwindt and right wing Luke Kunin.

Samoskevich moved up to the second line with Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen in Marchand’s absence. A.J. Greer took Samoskevich’s spot on the third line with center Sam Bennett and winger Jesper Boqvist.