Devils Burn Panthers

The Florida Panthers returned home to begin a four-game stint and lost to the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday night at the Bank Atlantic Center. In their previous meeting, Martin Brodeur and the Devils were unable to hold a 3-0 lead and lost to the Panthers 4-3 on November 21. It was only the second time in Florida Panthers history that they overcame a three-goal lead. Florida had numerous close-range chances in the first 14 minutes of the game, with Brodeur making brilliant save-after-save. Things changed at 15:10 when Adam Larrson sent a pass from the end-boards through his own left circle. It was intercepted by Stephen Weiss who skated alone into the crease and passed it to the right where the trailer Kris Versteeg placed it into an open-net after Brodeur was committed. Florida took a two-goal lead as Versteeg put in his second goal of the game at 7:29 of the second period in a shorthanded situation. He poke-checked Hendrik Tallinder at the red line and skated in on a one-on-one breakaway where he put a wrist shot over Broduer's glove. The Devils cut the lead to 2-1 just one minute later. Iyla Kovalchuk placed the puck from the left corner to the slot, it grazed off a Panther defender and Patrik Elias finished the play from the right of the crease. The Devils tied the game at 7:40 of the third period. Tallinder took a slap shot from the top of the zone that went wide and rebounded off the back wall. Parise shot the puck from the left of the crease over Jose Theodore for the equalizer. With ten seconds remaining, Petr Sykora redirected Mark Fayne's right-wing shot from the crease, however it went behind Theodore and across the goalmouth for no goal. The Panthers set a season record with only one shot in the third period. The previous mark was two shots in the first period against the Washington Capitals on October 18. There was no scoring in overtime. In the shootout, Kovalchuk scored first with a wrist shot over the left shoudler of Theodore. Elias wrapped up the win on the Devils third attempt as he put the puck between the legs of the goalie. New Jersey improved their record to 7-1 in shootouts. Florida will host the Calgary Flames with former Panther players Olli Jokinen and Jay Bouwmeester on Friday.