Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored on a penalty shot with 12.9 seconds left in overtime to hand the Panthers the 3-2 loss Thursday night, leaving Florida three points behind New Jersey in the battle for the last playoff spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
Aaron Ekblad and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Panthers and goaltender James Reimer made 27 saves.
The Panthers have 86 points after 76 games. The Devils picked up a point in their 4-3 loss in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving them 89 points after 77 games.
The Panthers led 2-1 after two periods on goals by Ekblad, on the power play at 5:19 of the second, and Dadonov 91 seconds later, but gave up a goal 16 seconds into the third period after defenseman Mike Matheson failed to handle the puck below the goal line in the Florida zone to Reimer’s right.