Panthers Down Sharks

     For the second time in over one week, the Florida Panthers defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday night at SAP Center. The Cats, who rolled over the Sharks 4-1 last week in Sunrise, leave California after three games and finish the road trip in Nashville on Saturday. The Sharks had played 16 of their first 21 games on the road prior to this game.
     Florida(7-5-5) scored on their first shift just 24 seconds into the game. Dmitry Kulikov fired a slapshot from the right point and Nick Bjugstad redirected it from the right circle by Antti Niemi.
     Logan Couture evened the contest for San Jose(10-9-3) at 6:19 on the power play for his eighth goal of the season. Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau were credited with assists on the goal.
     The Panthers regained the lead with 2:37 left in the second on the power play when Bjugstad blasted a shot from the top left circle on a fine feed by Eric Gudbranson at the blue line. Jonathan Huberdeau picked up his second assist on the play. It was the fourth straight game that the Cats have scored at least once with the man advantage.
     The Sharks had the opportunity to tie it with 6:53 to go in the third period on a penalty shot. Marleau skated on net, went to the forehand shot and Roberto Luongo made a diving blocker save. He improved his career record on penalty shots to 24 saves on 27 attempts.
     Marleau would get redemption and score with 33.1 second left in regulation when San Jose had an extra skater on the ice. Joe Thornton fed the puck from the right corner to Marleau in the low right circle and he snapped a shot by the blocker of Luongo to tie it at 2-2.
     There was no scoring in overtime and the game went into a shootout. Couture made the second attempt for the Sharks with a forehand shot between Luongo's legs. Jussi Jokinen matched it for Florida with a wrist shot by the stick side of Niemi. Bjugstad, who had his third career two-goal game, got the game winner on the Panthers third attempt as he fired a shot over Niemi's glove.