Panthers Wrap-Up: Oilers 2, Panthers 1 (SO)
Garrison sets franchise mark but Cats' home winning streak comes to an end with shootout loss.
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 Nugent-Hopkins' goal was the only score in the shootout. FULL RECAP |
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 - Head coach Kevin Dineen. |
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 2. Oh So Close: Each team had their chances following the goals early in the second period. The best chances came towards the end of the third and overtime. With about a minute and a half eft in the final period of regulation, rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had an excellent chance to give the visitors a lead. The only problem was that Theodore was in net and the goaltender reached back and swatted away the slowly rolling puck out of harms way with the help of defenseman Brian Campbell. In overtime, the Panthers had their best opportunity in the dying seconds. There Weiss found a wide open Kris Versteeg just outside the Oilers blue line and the forward raced in on a breakaway. He put a move on the goaltender but Dubnyk got his pad on it. Versteeg had a second chance at it but put the puck through the crease and the horn sounded. Florida had a 27-21 shot advantage after overtime ended. 3. No Ground Loss: The Panthers and Oilers would head to the shootout. Edmonton, despite all their skill and youth entered the game with a 4-7 record in the one-on-one session and dropped Thursday night's game in the shootout. Florida on the other hand entered the game 5-8 after winning their last shootout attempt against Buffalo. Mikael Samuelsson was stopped on his attempt while Wojtek Wolski missed and Dmitry Kulikov, last game's shootout hero, had Dubnyk beat but put the backhand wide of the net. Theodore was just as strong on the other end, stopping each of the three Oilers shooters. Headed to the fourth round, Dubnyk denied Weiss before Nugent-Hopkins gave the visitors the extra point with a nice backhand move. Not picking up the second point does hurt in regards to most of the other teams catching them but it does keep the Panthers four points ahead of the Washington Capitals for the race for the division. Washington had a three-goal lead on Winnipeg but fell to the Jets as the team that is currently in third place in the Southeast desperately needed the points and fought back to earn a 4-3 overtime victory. Florida and Winnipeg has eight games left on the schedule while Washington has seven more. |
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 Memorable twitter posts from the game.
@Van_Murph: Again, the #FlaPanthers control their own destiny! There are 16 points available. Go get 'em! #iSTILLbelieve! #WeSeeDivisionLeaders |
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 Memorable fan posts from the game.
Sonny Rosen: They lost. But they are still my team. GO CATS GO!!!!!!!! Damian Geisz: We're gonna be a sub .500 shoot out team until we get a true goal scorer Laszlo Kovasznay: bad shoot out again..frustrating William Holz Jr.: What an exciting game and a BIG point!!! Keep on rolling Panthers!!! Jeff Main: Tough game, so many chances. It was a goaltenders game from start to finish! Proud of our Panthers regardless! |
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 3. Falling 2-1 in the shootout, the Panthers have now suffered the same fate to the Oilers in Sunrise on each of the last three occasions. The last time the Panthers fell in the shootout was on December 7, 2009, a 3-2 setback. |
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27 Shots, 26 Saves, .963 SV%
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Panthers
Oilers
Author: Glenn Odebralski | FloridaPanthers.com
