Panthers beat Capitals in overtime in Game 4, tie series

The "Comeback Cats" are back — in playoff form.

Known for their propensity to play from behind and win on the way to the NHL’s best regular season, the Florida Panthers finally delivered a little of that magic in the postseason, and not a minute too late.

Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored the overtime winner and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 4 Monday night to tie the first-round series.

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No team had more comeback victories than Florida’s 24 this season, and now it has home-ice advantage back going into Game 5 on Wednesday night in Sunrise.

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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 9: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals pursues MacKenzie Weegar #52 of the Florida Panthers as he plays the puck during Game Four of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena on May 9, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by John McCreary/NHLI via Getty Images)

"I feel a lot of trust in them that they’ll make something happen," interim coach Andew Brunette said. "They’ve done it all year and they continued to do it tonight."

The Panthers were just over two minutes away from facing the prospect of getting knocked out at home. Then, with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker, Reinhart collected a loose puck after it bounced off Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway and beat Ilya Samsonov with 2:04 remaining in the third period.

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"Those are the kind of situations you want to be in as a hockey player," Reinhart said. "It’s a game that can really go either way at the end of it and we stuck with it and we’re happy with the result."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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