Panthers Beat Hurricanes

The Florida Panthers continued their trip on the road in Raleigh and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 at the RBC Center on Tuesday night. It was the debut of former Panther Kirk Muller as head coach of the Hurricanes. The game was scoreless after one period. Florida picked up a power-play goal at 10:45 of the second period. Stephen Weiss won a left circle face-off that went back to Brian Campbell at the top of the zone. He put a pass to the left point to Tomas Fleischmann, who skated to the top left circle and blasted a slapshot past Cam Ward that hit the right post and went in. Fleischmann picked up his 11th goal this season. Carolina tied the game just one minute later. Eric Staal placed a pass into the slot area where Jeff Skinner scored on his follow-up shot, his tenth this season, in the crease area. The Panthers had their opportunities in the third period. Jack Skille was taken down from behind on a breakaway by Joni Pitkanen at 7:51 and was rewarded a penalty shot. He skated up the middle and fired a wrist shot that was stopped by Ward's glove. They also had a two-on-one breakaway while shorthanded at 12:00, however Sean Bergenheim had his left wing shot blocked by Ward. Shawn Matthias scored from the right side of the net with 3:19 left after Tomas Kopecky stopped a clearing pass on the right side wall and passed it ahead. Several minutes later, Matthias skated through the neutral zone and put in an open-net goal with 49 seconds remaining for his second of the night and fifth this year. With the win the Panthers extended their Southeast Division lead over the Washington Capitals by five points. Florida heads across the country to take on the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks later this week.