The Florida Panthers faced against the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, who are two of the original six teams in the National Hockey League, this past weekend as they split their two-game road trip.
Florida surprised new division foe Detroit(15-9-7) with a 2-1 victory on Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena. Red Wings center Stephen Weiss competed against his former team for the first time after 11 seasons with the Cats.
The Panthers won back-to-back games for just the second time this season and it was their first regulation victory in Michigan for them since December 1996. Dan Cleary gave the Wings an early 1-0 lead 4:06 into the first period.
Jimmy Hayes put in his third goal of the season at 2:59 of the second period to tie the game for the Cats 1-1. Jonathan Huberdeau would get the game-winning goal on a backhand shot in the slot with 16:31 remaining in the third period. It was the seventh goal this year for the reigning Calder Trophy winner.
The second part of the trip had Florida make their only appearance at United Center in Chicago this season and take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks on Sunday night. Former Panther Kris Versteeg played against the Cats for the first time since he was traded to Chicago back on November 15 for Jimmy Hayes and Dylan Olsen.
Chicago(21-6-5) jumped out quickly to a 2-0 lead in the first period with two goals on the power play. Patrick Sharp scored at 1:10 and Brent Seabrook at 9:11. The Hawks extended the gap to 3-0 when Marian Hossa scored 37 seconds into the second period.
Florida(9-17-5) crawled back into this game during the middle of the second. Olsen burned his former organization with his second NHL goal at 4:05 and Marcel Goc took advantage of a turnover and scored an unassisted goal from the slot area at 9:37.
The Blackhawks regained the momentum with the final three tallies of the game to win 6-2. Michal Handzus finished the second as he scored with 2:34 left. Andrew Shaw added a power-play goal at 2:44 of the third period and Brandon Saad put in a backhand shot with 56 seconds to go in regulation.
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