Cats Rooks Drop Affair To Sens

Kitchener, Ontario – In their first game of the 2008 Rookie Tournament at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the Florida Panthers prospects dropped a 4-2 decision to the Ottawa Senators rookie squad on Saturday afternoon. Florida, who next plays the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday at 2 p.m., received goals from D Adam Comrie and C Shawn Matthias, while RW Mick Lawrence scored a pair of goals for the Senators. 

Less than two minutes into the first period, the Panther prospects opened the scoring when Comrie took a pass from RW Brady Calla and fired a shot from the point past the Senators netminder Brian Elliott. Ottawa tied the game at 4:42 when LW Shawn Weller tapped a loose puck past Panthers G Tyler Plante. The Senators added a power play tally late in the opening period, on a shot by Ilya Zubov that slipped under the pads of Plante to give Ottawa a one-goal lead.

In the middle frame, the Cats would be held scoreless, while Ottawa opened up a two goal advantage on a power play tally from Lawrence. Matthias would pull the Cats to within one early in the third period, when he took a feed from C David Brine and flipped the puck past the Ottawa netminder at 3:19. The Senators answered back less than five minutes later with Lawrence’s second of the game, which proved to be the final goal of the contest.

Plante turned away 21 of 25 shots, while Elliott made 27 saves on 29 shots. Florida scored one power play goal on six opportunities, while Ottawa recorded a pair of power play goals. 

In other rookie tournament play, the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the late game on Saturday.

 
Scoring Summary:

First Period: FLA Comrie (Calla, Jenks) 1:07; OTT Weller (Regin, Lawrence) 4:42; OTT PP Zubov (Kudelka, Winchester) 15:38
 
Second Period: OTT Lawrence (Regin, Weller) 5:50

Third Period: FLA PP Matthias (Brine) 3:19; OTT PP Lawrence (Zubov, Winchester) 7:38

Shots:
Florida: 29
Ottawa: 25

Power Play:
Florida: 1-6
Ottawa: 2-6