Pens Skate By Panthers

    The Florida Panthers played the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at BB&T Center and lost 3-1. The Panthers were eliminated from playing in the postseason with their loss and a New York Rangers win tonight. The defending Southeast Division champion Cats have not been in the NHL playoffs 11 of the last 12 seasons.
    Pittsburgh(32-10-0) scored first at 14:49 of the first period to get the lead. Kris Letang received a pass from Beau Bennett at the top of the zone and fired a slap shot by Jacob Markstrom.
    The Pens extended their lead with 1:33 remaining in the first period. After a big pile up in the crease area, Brenden Morrow poked in a shot from the blue paint for a 2-0 margin.
    Florida(13-22-6) bounced back early in the second period at 4:10. Jack Skille got the puck behind the Penguins net on a turnover and sent it in front to Scottie Upshall where he scored on a wrist shot from on top of the crease past Marc Andre-Fleury. It was Upshall's third goal of the season.
    The Penguins wrapped up the game with 21 seconds left in the third period when the Panthers were shorthanded and pulled their goalie. Pascal Dupuis intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, feed a lead pass to Morrow at the Panthers blue line and he shot into an open net for a power-play goal.
    Markstrom made 19 saves as he dropped to 6-10-1 while Fleury stopped 25 of 26 shots and improved to 21-6-0. The Cats went 0-for-4 on the power play and the Pens went 1-for-3 with the man advantage. The Panthers will begin a four-game road swing on Tuesday night, which includes three stops in the New York metropolitan area, as they face the New York Islanders in Uniondale.