Florida Panthers get last laugh against Carolina Hurricanes in shootout 3-2 -NHL Update
Florida Panthers has definitely been one of the hard working teams this season, showing that it can fight back, as the Eastern Conference's third place team came back in a shootout to edge Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, Saturday night, February 25, 2012, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"It was a crazy day, but it worked out," Florida’s left winger, Wojtek Wolski, said.
Panthers made a comeback after losing four straight games, most of which were major disappointments, including a shootout loss to Minnesota Wild, a shutout by Anaheim Ducks, and a 6-2 embarrassment at the hands of Ottawa Senators.
Justin Faulk gave Carolina something to work on as he opened the scoring with his seventh of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season on their first power play opportunity, after killing a penalty of their own.
Jussi Jokinen extended the lead with his ninth of the year, with less than three minutes remaining in the third, but a downward dive in the third allowed Florida to make the crucial comeback.
"When it's 2-0 like that, it's just tough to take right now and it's tough to give an answer of why (we lost)," Hurricanes’ defenseman, Bryan Allen, said. "They pressed and got lucky and scored two goals. I can't look any further myself. I was on the ice for both goals."
Tomas Fleischmann put Florida up on the scoreboard with his 20th goal of the season at 13:58 of the third and final period of regulation, while Wojtek Wolski was the one to tie it all up at 18:13 to force an overtime extension.
A scoreless overtime resulted in a shootout decider Florida happily took as the way to win by capitalising on two of three chances, while Carolina managed to post a goal, on one of their attempts only.
Seeing how Carolina has not won a single shootout in the six they have faced this season, Florida was grinning going into the post-regulation showdown.
"Our guys are playing as hard as they can," said Carolina coach Kirk Muller, "I think, as a coach, I cannot ask more from our guys. We have young guys, and I think they're giving it everything they've got right now."
Panthers have the next at home against Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, while Carolina is set to host Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Tags: