Pittsburgh Penguins hand down Florida Panthers second loss 2-1 in shootout -NHL Update
Pittsburgh took advantage of the well known fact that Florida is unable to deny a team coming back after maintaining the lead in the first 40 minutes of regulation. Penguins forced the overtime extension and took the match in a shootout to win, 2-1, Friday
night, March 9, 2012, at the sold-out CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Penguins became one of those teams looking to make a surprise entry into the top spot of the Eastern Conference as they now have 87 points and are only four points behind tying top Atlantic Divisional rivals, New York Rangers.
With a eight game winning streak, Pittsburgh has made the sport look easy. With Sidney Crosby out of the scene, Penguins have managed to takeover and control how they play and could be taking over Rangers for the number one spot sooner than expected.
Tomas Fleischmann scored the first goal of the night during round-two of the matchup nearly midway through for his 21st of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season. Wojtek Wolski setup the player and grabbed a crucial lead for
Florida going into the final.
Florida failed to hold on and keep the opposition at bay as Steve Sullivan levelled the match at 2:56 in the final period of regulation and amazingly, both teams failed to take the lead in regulation.
Krys Barch gave Penguins another chance to grab the lead with his four-minute double minor for high sticking but the home team failed to capitalise on the power play advantage.
James Neal scored on Pittsburgh’s first shootout opportunity after a five-minute scoreless overtime extension. Wolski failed on Florida’s first while Evgeni Malkin made the game-winner on their second straight followed by another miss from Mikael Samuelsson.
Florida was lucky to gain the extra point for losing out of regulation as Washington Capitals had the opportunity to tie them in their next game for the South Eastern top spot and become number three in the East.
Panthers will have to come out of the losing loophole if they wish to keep their spot in the conference as an ample opportunity awaits them, kicking off a four-game home stand on Sunday against Carolina Hurricanes.
Pittsburgh Penguins have one more at home against Boston Bruins on the same day and showing any reluctance towards the defending Stanley Cup champions is not in the question.
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