Mikael Granlund scored a power-play goal 4:14 into overtime to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday at Honda Center. Anaheim scored all three of its goals on the man advantage, led by a three-point performance from Cutter Gauthier.
Anaheim opened the scoring at 16:18 of the first period when Gauthier beat Jacob Markstrom with a snap shot on the power play, assisted by Jackson LaCombe and Leo Carlsson. The Panthers countered 51 seconds later at even strength as Carter Verhaeghe notched a tip-in goal off assists from Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk to make it 1-1.
Gauthier struck again 47 seconds into the second period, scoring his second power-play snap shot of the game following passes from Beckett Sennecke and Carlsson. Anaheim held the 2-1 advantage late into the third period until Brad Marchand tied the contest at 18:10 with an even-strength wrist shot, assisted by Lars Eller.
Granlund ended the game in the extra session, tipping in a pass from Carlsson and Gauthier on the power play. Carlsson finished the game with three assists. Anaheim capitalized on three of its four power plays, while Florida went 0 for 4 with the man advantage. Lukas Dostal earned the win for the Ducks by stopping 29 of 31 shots, and Markstrom turned aside 17 of 20 shots for the Panthers.
The victory improved Anaheim to 2-0-0 on the regular season, giving the Ducks two consecutive wins. Florida moved to 1-0-2 and remained winless over its last two games after suffering a second straight overtime defeat.
The Ducks will visit the New York Rangers on Monday, October 19. The Panthers will visit the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, October 21.
