Coach praises Molin's bravery
The 23-year-old Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin, who notched more than 100 points in his rookie NHL season for Washington, is renowned for his bravery and spectacular goals.
And Molin's first goal against the Vipers saw him diving beyond the goalie to whip in the puck from a seemingly impossible angle.
Neilson said: "When you get it to Moley behind a defenceman, he's beautiful to watch with all that speed, skill and technique and he was just like an Ovechkin diving over the goalie."
The goal came from a 'sleeper' play that Panthers try every so often, which involves a quick player-change in their end zone from a face-off, to catch the opponents off guard.
"Goodie [bench coach Adam Goodridge] did a great job calling the play," Neilson added.
"Dan Tessier came up to me and said "sleeper" so we knew it was on.
"It all starts when one of their defencemen lines up alongside our bench. We distract him to get him off his game, squirting water and whatever to snap his concentration."
Molin took it on: "When we win the face-off in our zone, the guy nearest the bench gets off the ice and I jump on at the other end behind their defenceman.
"Then our d-man gets the puck to me and hopefully I score. We'd tried it couple of times this season without any luck, but this time it worked."
Molin – one of the most consistent players for Panthers this season – also scored in the dying seconds on the empty net and again he was on his knees when he put the puck away.
"The second one was similar," he said. "They'd taken off their goalie but we won the face-off and Corey always tells us to chase the puck down in case his shot doesn't hit the empty net.
"Thankfully, Matt Myers and me were there first and I managed to score. It was a special night for me because my parents were over from Sweden to watch."
Panthers have a re-match away to Newcastle on Sunday.
Johan Molin
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