Panthers Take Rangers

    The Florida Panthers snapped a six-game losing streak on Tuesday night as they got by the New York Rangers 3-2 at BB&T Center. The Panthers will host the Toronto Maple Leafs in their final home game of the regular season on Thursday.
    Neither team was able to score in the first period as the Cats were outshot 10-2. Florida only got one shot in the first 15 minutes of the period and that was on the power play.
    Florida(14-26-6) took the lead on their third shot of the game at 5:04 of the second period. Mike Weaver was on the right point and sent a cross-ice pass to Filip Kuba on the left point and he fired a wrist shot through traffic that was deflected in by Tomas Fleischmann past Henrik Lundqvist. It was the tenth goal of the season for Fleischmann.
    New York(24-18-4) evened the game up 2:35 into the third period. John Moore streaked through the left circle and took a wrist shot which was saved by Jacob Markstrom. Taylor Pyatt followed when he swept the puck from the low slot into the net.
    The Panthers regained the lead on the power play at 7:37. Fleischmann received the puck on the right wing from Brian Campbell at the top of the zone. He passed it to the slot area where Marcel Goc redirected the puck in for the tally. Goc scored his eighth goal this season and second goal in three games.
    The Cats wrapped the game up when they were shorthanded and the Rangers pulled their goalie for an extra skater. Drew Shore stopped a pass out to the left point and sent the puck from his own right circle down the ice into the open net with 1:23 left in the third period.
    The Blueshirts responded with 33 seconds remaining with a goal to close the margin. Brad Richards was behind the Panthers cage and found Derick Brassard at the top of the crease and he scored on a wrist shot.
    Markstrom stopped 36 of 38 shots and raised his record to 7-13-1 while Lundqvist fell to 22-16-3 as he made 13 saves. The Panthers were 1-for-3 on the power play and the Rangers were 0-for-3. The Cats were outshot 38-16 in the game.