Panthers Wrap-Up: Hurricanes 3, Panthers 1
Theodore's efforts not enough as Cats win streak ends at five with loss in Raleigh.
![](http://1.cdn.nhle.com/panthers/images/upload/2012/03/PanthersHurricanes-032112-Large.jpg")
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 Eric Staal had his second straight two-goal game - giving him a team-leading 23 - to help the Hurricanes win their season-best fourth straight and earn points for the 14th time in 17 home games. FULL RECAP |
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 - Head coach Kevin Dineen to the Sun-Sentinel. |
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 2. Highly Contest Second: While the Hurricanes offense really came to play in the opening period and were rewarded with the early goal, the best period, if you wanted to see shots at least, came in the middle stanza. The two teams combined for 31 shots on goal. The visitors recorded 17 of those and were rewarded with their only goal of the game. Unfortunately (not just because it was the only one) it came as an answer to Carolina's second goal of the game. The Canes took a two goal lead as Joni Pitkanen blasted a shot top shelf on Theodore with 10:55 gone in the frame. Florida would get their goal 1:38 later when Ed Jovanovski sent a shot on Cam Ward. The puck found its way to Tomas Fleischmann and the forward sent the shot past Ward with a nice backhand along the ice. It was his team leading 23rd of the season. 3. Strong Goaltending Effort Not Enough To Extend Streak: The Panthers goaltending has been superb over their five-game win streak and six-game point streak. In fact, over the six game span, Florida had allowed two or less goals in those games. Theodore was on once again as he made save after save. His best might have come right before Pitkanen made it a two-goal advantage. With Carolina on the penalty kill, Brandon Sutter went in on a rush and then tried to score on a wrap-around after his first shot was turned aside. Theodore stopped the puck just before it looked to cross the goal line. The play went to Toronto but the call was upheld. No goal. On Pitkanen's shot, very few could have stopped that blast while Staal made it a 3-1 advantage in the third on a power play snipe from in close. Theodore turned aside 36 shots but it wasn't enough as Ward stood tall on the other end and the Panthers win streak came to an end. Florida (85 points) couldn't take advantage of the game in hand over an idle Washington but still remain five points up on the second place Capitals. |
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 Memorable twitter posts from the game.
@mancphoenix: Damn #FlaPanthers lost 3-1 to #Canes that snaps the 5 game winning streak we had. |
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 Memorable fan posts from the game.
Christina Colon: Tears of sadness run down my face, I wish we could have won tonight. :( Matt Jagielski: goodnight evryone. I loved the benches clearing stare down at the end. Use that energy on friday. Lets get a win on my birthday. I will be in attendance. Believe red!! Jeff Main: Tough game, Carolina took it to us. Still holding first place fellow fans. Lets look to the next game! Tyler Current: too bad the streak ended Adam Cohen: Hey guys, tough loss, but nobody wins forever and back to back games are never easy. |
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 1. Falling by a 3-1 final, it was the first loss for the Panthers to the Hurricanes this season. The Panthers had won the first four, although Carolina had registered two points in an overtime and shootout loss (1-2-2). |
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2 Goals, 2 Points, +1, 7 Shots, 23:20 TOI
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Panthers
Hurricanes
Author: Glenn Odebralski | FloridaPanthers.com
