Oilers Drill Panthers

    The Florida Panthers extended their losing streak to six games as they lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night at BB&T Center. The Cats have won two of their last 14 games. They will play eight of their next nine games on the road with the exception of a home game against the Anaheim Ducks next Tuesday. The Oilers were able to snap a five-game losing streak in the first game of a four-game road trip.
    Florida(3-8-4) scored first at 10:35 of the first period. Tomas Fleischmann brought the puck into the Oilers zone on the right side then fell as he passed to Jonathan Huberdeau on the right-wing wall. He sent the puck to Marcel Goc in the top slot and he put a wrist shot by goalie Devin Dubnyk for a Cats 1-0 lead. It was Goc's fourth tally of the season and his first goal in eight games since October 15 in Nashville.
    Edmonton(4-10-2), who were shut out at home in their previous two games, compiled a goal and tie the game at 1-1 with 3:01 left in the first. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke down the left side into the Panthers zone, shuffled a backhand pass to Philip Larsen by himself in the slot area and he snapped a shot over the left glove of Panthers goalie Jacob Markstom.
    Two Oiler rookies picked up their first career NHL goals during the second period in a span of 33 seconds as Edmonton moved up to a 3-1 lead. Mark Arcobello received a pass down the left side from Boyd Gordon and fired a shot from the low left circle on an acute angle that hit the top shelf of the net at 2:06.
    Taylor Fedun, who was making his NHL debut tonight, extended their margin to 3-1 at 2:39. Jordan Eberle had the puck at the left point and angled a pass into the slot to Nugent-Hopkins. He dished it near his right to Fedun who put in a wrist shot from the inner right circle.
    The Panthers narrowed the gap to 3-2 midway through the third period at 10:04. Scottie Upshall stopped a clearing pass at the left point and feed the puck ahead to Brian Campbell. He moved it to Jesse Winchester who tipped it to Upshall and he scored from the slot area for his first goal this year.
     The Cats waited until they had to pull the goalie for an extra skater late in the third period. They succeded as Upshall tied the game at 3-3 with 57.6 seconds left in regulation when he ripped a wrist shot from the top left circle. Dmitry Kulikov and Goc got the assists on the play.
    In overtime, Upshall took a tripping penalty 32 seconds into the extra session. The Oilers capitalized on this as they scored on the power play at 1:55 when Arcobello blasted in a one-time slapshot from the left face-off circle on a feed at the top of the zone by Ales Hemsky.
    The Oilers went 1-for-3 on the power play while the Panthers were 0-for-1. Dubnyk improved to 3-5-1 as he made 20 saves while Markstrom dropped to 1-6-2 as he stopped 23 shots.