Winnipeg Jets rally to down Florida Panthers 5-4 -NHL Update
Florida had the match under control midway through the second period but blew it off as Panthers were taken down by Winnipeg Jets, 5-4, Tuesday night, April 3, 2012, at the rowdy BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.
Panthers are still yearning to grab that South Eastern Division top spot officially and are now four points ahead of their closest competition, the Washington Capitals, but losing like that is always disappointing.
"It's hard to express the disappointment," Florida coach, Kevin Dineen, said. "There's a little bit of shock by all of us. There's a little bit of just surprise that with the game that we had going that we weren't able to sustain that for 60 minutes. Obviously
disappointing."
Marco Sturm and Kris Versteeg added the first two for the Florida team. Versteeg got the second on a power play opportunity when Chris Thorburn was booked for holding, giving Panthers an ample advantage.
Tomas Fleischmann made it a 3-0 game in favour of Florida with his 27th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season just 25 seconds into the second, but Winnipeg was getting prepared for a miraculous comeback.
Evander Kane added their first of the night followed by Zach Bogosian on a breakaway turnover. Winnipeg captain, Andrew Ladd, added their third while Bryan Little took advantage of an added man of their own with Mike Weaver out for the game-winner.
Tomas Kopecky tried bringing Florida back at 16:07 but the team failed to add anymore to level the match and lost in sheer disappointment.
Letting go of such a secure lead midway through the match is never a good thing and when it comes to their first playoff appearance in over a decade, Florida will have to work on how they will change those deficiencies around.
"We haven't done anything easy," Panthers coach, Kevin Dineen, said. "I'm sure you've heard that from the locker room already, but we never seem to take the easy road. Unfortunately, tonight was a perfect example of that."
Winnipeg Jets will be going on to New York to face Islanders on Thursday while Florida Panthers play against Washington Capitals on Thursday.
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