Noel Acciari scores with 5 seconds left, Panthers edge Wild for 5th straight win
ST. PAUL, Minn (AP) — Noel Acciari scored with 5.6 seconds left in the third period and the Florida Panthers won their fifth straight game, beating the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Monday night.
Acciari was able to tip a shot from the point by Mark Pysyk that was first tipped by Aaron Ekblad. A video review upheld the goal.
It was Florida’s first regulation victory in Minnesota. Since a 2001 scoreless tie during the Wild’s inaugural season, Minnesota was 10-0-1 at home against Florida, including seven wins in a row.
Keith Yandle had a goal and three assists, and Aleksander Barkov added a goal and an assist for Florida. Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves in his second consecutive start after missing two games with an upper-body injury.
Luke Kunin had two goals, Zach Parise scored on the power play and Jared Spurgeon added a goal and an assist for Minnesota. Alex Stalock stopped 20 shots.
Trochek beat Stalock between the pads with 4:08 to go, tying the game at 4.
Kunin’s second goal of the game — a snap shot from the slot off the glove of Bobrovsky — gave Minnesota a 4-3 lead 7:06 into the third.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Suter each had two assists for the Wild.
With the score tied 2-all, Dadonov lifted his stick waist-high to redirect a shot by Yandle early in the third, but Parise countered just more than two minutes later, putting in a rebound for his fifth goal in four games. Parise has a career-best four straight games with a power-play goal.
Minnesota has seven power-play goals in 13 chances during the past four games after going 4 for 27 in the previous 10.
A highlight-reel effort by Barkov put Florida up 2-1 midway through the second.
After receiving a long outlet pass from Josh Brown just inside the blue line, the Florida captain sped past Carson Soucy through the right circle and cut across the crease before flipping a shot into the top right corner as he continued moving left.
NOTES: Mike Hoffman has a nine-game point streak, the longest this season by a Florida player. He had a 17-game point streak last season. … Spurgeon’s goal was the 27th power-play tally of his career, moving him past Brent Burns for most by a defenseman in Wild history. … Dominic Toninato returned for Florida after being sick and sitting out Saturday. The center played four seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and was the team captain in 2016-17.
UP NEXT
Panthers: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Wild: Home against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.