Panthers Fail To Clinch

After 19 seasons in the National Hockey League, the Florida Panthers failed to clinch their first division title. They blew a 3-0 lead and were defeated by the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 in overtime at the Bank Atlantic Center on Tuesday. Florida put in the first goal of the game at 12:03 of the first period. Dmitry Kulikov fired a shot from the right point through traffic which was saved by Ondrej Pavelec. Marco Sturm took the puck and shoved it into the net from the low crease for his third goal of the season. On the Panthers second power play, Brian Campbell blasted a slap shot from the right point where Kris Versteeg redirected it in front. For Versteeg it was his 23rd goal of the season and his seventh against the Jets in 2011-12. The Cats had a 2-0 lead at 14:00. Florida had also outshot Winnipeg 11-2 after 15 minutes into the contest. Florida extended the lead to 3-0 at 0:25 of the second period when Versteeg sent a pass from the left corner to Tomas Fleischmann who took a a slap shot from the right-circle dot. He picked up his team-leading 27th goal and his third goal in the last four games. The Jets broke the shutout at 13:15 on a two-on-one breakaway. Spencer Machacek raced through the right circle and passed to the edge of the crease where Evander Kane put in his 30th goal of the season. Following a mad scramble for the puck in the the crease area, Ed Jovanovski tried to clear it out of the Panthers zone. Zack Bogosian stopped it at the right point and ripped a slap shot by Jose Theodore at 17:21 to close the margin to 3-2. The Jets were able to tie the game at 0:53 of the third period as Andrew Ladd let go a wrist shot from the right circle. Winnipeg took their first lead of the game 4-3 on a power-play goal at 3:45. Blake Wheeler pushed a pass from the right corner to Bryan Little who nailed a shot from the low right circle. The Panthers tied the game with 3:53 left in regulation. After a flurry of shots on net, Sturm sent a pass from behind the Jets net to Tomas Kopecky who scored on an acute angle shot from the left-wing boards. Florida almost won it with 18 seconds left as Fleischmann was stopped on a breakaway with a backhand shot. The Jets got the decisive goal in overtime by Ladd at 3:12. Wheeler dropped a pass to Ladd as he entered the Panthers zone. Ladd then snapped a shot from the high slot area for the winner. With two games left in the regular season, the Panthers lead the Washington Capitals by four points in the Southeast Division and the Buffalo Sabres by four points in the Eastern Conference race. In what could be the biggest game for the Cats this season, they travel to Washington D.C. to take on the Capitals for the division title on Thursday night.