Panthers show ‘more urgency’ in third period of Game 3 OT loss to Rangers. They need to build on it

The Florida Panthers were down a pair of goals with 20 minutes left in regulation of Game 3 of their Eastern Conference final series with the New York Rangers on Sunday. Defense lapses — abnormal for this Florida team — had them in need of a major rally to keep themselves in the game heading into the third period.

The Panthers were in need of a spark, so Panthers coach Paul Maurice did what he usually does when his team needs a spark.

He changed up the forward lines.

Carter Verhaeghe went to the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. Vladimir Tarasenko went with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Sam Bennett centered Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk.

“Just a different look with certain players,” Maurice said. “The guys that are going partway through the game, sometimes, you’ve got to throw them together. ... We had some guys that were going; just wanted to give them a better chance to get them open when we could.”

It worked. The Panthers played arguably their best period of the postseason, putting up 41 shot attempts and, most importantly, getting those two goals to tie the game and force overtime before ultimately falling 5-4 on an Alex Wennberg deflection 5:35 into the extra period to fall into a 2-1 hole in the best-of-7 series.

It was a frustrating end to a game that Florida had control of late, but they have momentum to build upon — momentum they’ll need to build upon — if they want to come back in the series.

“Sometimes you need that,” Barkov said of the line changes. “Sometimes you need to create something different and it worked out for us in the third period. We got going. We moved better and competed a little better.”

Barkov started the rally 5:04 into the third period when he crashed the net as Verhaeghe put a shot on goal. Barkov deflected the puck past Igor Shesterkin to get the Panthers back within a goal.

One minute and 54 seconds later, the Panthers tied the game when defenseman Gustav Forsling took a pass from Tkachuk off an offensive zone faceoff, skated into the left faceoff circle and buried a snap shot past Shesterkin.

“We got fairly dominant toward the end,” Maurice said, “to get it even.”

Florida needed that domination to get out of its early hole, which was caused by some rare defensive miscues.

The Rangers scored twice in the first period in a span of 25 seconds — first on an Alexis Lafreniere breakaway and then on a Barclay Goodrow deflection of a Braden Schneider shot — but came out of the period tied 2-2 thanks to a pair of Reinhart power-play goals.

Lafreniere and Goodrow then each added another goal in the second period, with Lafreniere slicing through Florida’s defense to put the Rangers up 3-2 and then Goodrow scoring shorthanded with a snap shot from the left circle to put the Rangers up 4-2 late in the second.

“We’re a defensive-minded team,” Reinhart said. “That’s where our success is built on. The rest usually takes care of itself.”

That was on display in the third period when Florida needed it most. They tightened their gap in the defensive zone and that led to a lopsided result offensively — a 41-11 edge in shot attempts, 13-4 in shots on goal, 21-4 in scoring chances (including 8-1 in high-danger chances) and, most key, the two goals.

That followed with a strong showing in overtime, with Florida getting six scoring chances to New York’s one — that one by the Rangers being the game-winner.

“We were on our toes,” Reinhart said of the third period. “That’s probably why we had the puck a little more and then the natural instinct [for the Rangers] might be to sit back with the lead.

“We had a little bit more urgency.”

Now, the Panthers need to find a way to carry that sense of urgency into Game 4 on Tuesday to avoid falling into a 3-1 series hole before the series shifts back to Madison Square Garden for Game 5.

“Sometimes you wanna keep the growl,” Maurice said. “There’s times you want to keep it, and eat it, and let it burn. Find a different energy source. Put up what we put up tonight and not come away with a win, you should be a little growly.”