Panthers Wrap-Up: Penguins 2, Panthers 1 (SO)
Panthers rebound from Thursday night's game with solid effort but only net a point in standings.
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 Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots and was perfect in the shootout for his 36th victory of the season, putting him one behind Nashville's Pekka Rinne for the NHL lead. FULL RECAP |
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 - Head coach Kevin Dineen to the Miami Herald |
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 2. On Second Look: It was only a matter of time before the high-powered Penguins would get on the board. Jose Theodore has been excellent this year in goal but the Pens averaged 3.1 goals a game heading into Friday's action. Steve Sullivan knotted the game at one after he got behind the Panthers defense and fired a quick shot on goal. Theodore the majority of the shot but the puck squeezed through five-hole and into the net 2:56 into the third period. Pittsburgh then looked to take a lead with 11:07 remaining in the game as Pascal Dupuis' shot from in close was seen by the referee to have passed the goal line although Theodore got his glove on it, making for a tough call. After several tense minutes, Toronto overturned the goal in seeing that the puck didn't fully cross the line before being covered up by Theodore. Game tied at one. 3. Solid Effort Nets Only A Point: Following last night's game, the Panthers needed a good bounceback game. While the third period was little to be desired (just four shots on goal), the Panthers got great efforts from the goal on out. Theodore was great in regulation and overtime in turning aside 33 shots and his defense made sure that a lot of the Pens shots were one and done. And even when the netminder was out of position, his teammates came to the rescue (Jason Garrison stopping Jordan Staal in overtime). The offense, while limited to just one goal were active and one of the best forwards on the ice was Jack Skille who was all over the place, creating opportunities, blocking shots and doing everything else. The Panthers bugaboo the majority of the season has been the shootout as they've struggled in finding ways to score while stopping the opponents from scoring. Before the game, they were 4-7 in the one-on-one format while Pittsburgh was 8-3. The trends continued as Florida skated with just one point after James Neal and Evgeni Malkin both beat Theodore while Wolski and Mikael Samuelsson were denied by Fleury. |
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 Memorable twitter posts from the game.
@RhyminChrisR: Not a bad game at all. Our gut instincts aside, we knew Dineen absolutely had to make this a meaningful contest with PIT #FlaPanthers |
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 Memorable fan posts from the game.
Lynnette Porterfield Violette: Great game. Bummed about the shoot out. See you Sunday! Go Cats!! Gregory Cordero: As predicted... but at least we got a point! well played game tho Cats! Russ Gasbarro: Pens are only 4 points behind the Rangers...there is no shame in that. They have great goalies and a pretty solid team. Again, great game Panthers! Erick Roque: Great game Theodore. |
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 2. After allowing two power play goals against Philadelphia, Florida was successful in killing off both Pittsburgh power play attempts (a four-minute high-sticking minor to Krys Barch in the third). |
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33 Shots, 32 Saves, .970 SV%
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Panthers
Penguins
Author: Glenn Odebralski | FloridaPanthers.com
