Leo Carlsson sets up all three Ducks goals in 3-2 overtime win over Panthers

Three power-play goals changed the equation

Anaheim did not leave much room for interpretation. The Ducks scored all three of their goals with the extra man, finishing 3-for-4 on the power play while Florida went 0-for-4. In a game that ended with only 21 Anaheim shots and 31 from the Panthers, that difference was not a detail around the edges. It was the result.

The Ducks struck first at 16:18 of the opening period when Cutter Gauthier beat Jacob Markstrom with a snap shot, with Jackson LaCombe and Leo Carlsson collecting the assists. Florida answered only 51 seconds later. Carter Verhaeghe redirected a tip-in at 17:09 off feeds from Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, and the quick reply erased Anaheim's first lead before the period could settle.

Anaheim restored control almost immediately in the second. Just 47 seconds into the period, Gauthier scored again on another snap shot, this time from Beckett Sennecke and Carlsson, for a 2-1 Ducks lead. Gauthier finished with two goals and an assist, while Carlsson's playmaking had already shown up twice before the game reached its middle stretch.

Dostal held the line until the finishers returned

That second Gauthier goal stood for a long time, and Lukas Dostal gave Anaheim the chance to protect it. Florida generated the heavier shot total, won 55.2 per cent of the faceoffs and put 31 pucks on net, but Dostal stopped 29 of them for a .935 save percentage. The Ducks also absorbed a fair amount of that volume in front of him, blocking 20 shots as a team.

Florida still found a way back late. Brad Marchand tied the game at 18:10 of the third period with a wrist shot off a Lars Eller assist, turning what looked like a narrow Anaheim win into overtime. Marchand and Verhaeghe supplied the Panthers' two goals, and Bennett added an assist in a night when Florida created enough offence to threaten all the way to the end.

Overtime brought the game back to the same theme that defined regulation. At 4:14, Granlund tipped in the winner with Carlsson and Gauthier earning the assists. That gave Carlsson three assists on Anaheim's three goals, and it gave Gauthier involvement in all three scoring plays as well. Markstrom finished with 18 saves on 21 shots, but the Ducks' finishing on special teams kept asking harder questions than Florida could answer.

Our take

Anaheim's power play deserves top billing because it carried almost everything important. The Ducks did not own the shot count, and they did not have much margin at five-on-five because they produced no even-strength goals. What they did have was precision when the openings came. A 75 per cent power play and a goaltender at .935 is a clean recipe for winning a one-goal game.

For Florida, the outline of improvement is visible in the box score. The Panthers generated 31 shots and won the faceoff battle, so the game offered enough opportunity. But an 0-for-4 power play left goals on the table, and 23 giveaways put extra strain on the rest of their work. Anaheim's path is different: this was a smart, efficient win, but being outshot by 10 means a stronger even-strength push would make nights like this less dependent on perfect special teams.

What makes this result memorable is how concentrated the Ducks' offence was. Gauthier scored the first two, Granlund ended it, and Carlsson touched every Anaheim goal. Florida forced overtime with a late Marchand strike, yet the deciding sequence still belonged to the Ducks' best extra-man contributors. In a 3-2 game with five total goals and almost no waste, Anaheim's power play was the clearest thing on the ice.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 16:18

   Cutter Gauthier Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Jackson LaCombe (2), Leo Carlsson (2)

2. 1st · 17:09

   Carter Verhaeghe Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Sam Bennett (2), Matthew Tkachuk (1)

3. 2nd · 0:47

   Cutter Gauthier Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Beckett Sennecke (1), Leo Carlsson (3)

4. 3rd · 18:10

   Brad Marchand Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Lars Eller (2)

5. OT · 4:14

   Mikael Granlund Goal (1) Tip-In, assists: Leo Carlsson (4), Cutter Gauthier (2)