Oilers Splash Panthers

The Florida Panthers played on Friday night at the Bank Atlantic Center and lost to the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in a shootout. The loss ended the Cats longest home win streak at five games which tied a franchise record. Neither team was able to score in the first period as the Panthers held Edmonton to just five shots. Things changed as the Oilers took a 1-0 lead 1:37 into the second period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins came into the Panthers zone on a three-on-two and passed off to his right. Jordan Eberle then sent a cross-ice pass to Ryan Jones who beat Jose Theodore with a shot over his right shoulder. The Panthers responded back at 4:58 as Jason Garrison put in his 16th goal of the season. Stephen Weiss dropped a pass from the right circle to Tomas Fleischmann who then backhanded a pass to the open left wing to Garrison. He fired a slap shot through the legs of Devan Dubnyk. Garrison passed Jay Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe for most goals in a season by a Florida Panthers defenseman. Weiss also extended his point streak to five games. Both teams had several good chances to take the lead in the third period. Nugent-Hopkins had a crease shot that was stopped at 15:10. Mikael Samuelsson fired a one-time slap shot from the low left circle that was saved at 16:59. Eric Belanger pounded a slap shot from the left circle that trickled behind Theodore in the blue paint before Brian Campbell swept in out. In the final seconds of overtime, Weiss passed from his own high slot to Kris Versteeg at the Oilers blue line for a one-on-one breakaway. Versteeg faked a backhand and went forehand where Dubnyk made a skate save against the right post. With the puck lying there, Versteeg followed with the rebound which went across the goal line and hit the left post. Florida and Edmonton missed on their first three attempts in the shootout. On the Panthers fourth attempt, Weiss delayed his shot and went wide left and his shot was saved. Nugent-Hopkins followed and made a backhand shot into the top right corner of the net for an Oilers win. Florida gets one point in the game and remains four points ahead of the Washington Capitals. The Panthers host the New York Islanders on Sunday.