Panthers Fly Over Red Wings

     The Florida Panthers finished their short two-game road trip on Tuesday night as they beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 at Joe Louis Arena. The Cats are now 3-1-1 in their last five games in Detroit after they were 1-5-3 in their previous nine visits to Hockeytown. Both teams will face each other again in the same location ten days from now.
     Detroit(14-6-5) got to score on their first power play with 13:13 left in the first period. Former Panther Stephen Weiss passed the puck to Pavel Datsyuk at the top right circle. His shot was redirected in mid-air by Tomas Tatar by Roberto Luongo for his tenth goal this year as they pulled ahead 1-0.
     The Panthers tied it up with 4:49 to go in the first. Vincent Trocheck took a shot from the slot area which was saved by Jimmy Howard. Jimmy Hayes flipped the puck from the crease over him for his sixth goal this season.
     In the second period, Sean Bergenheim gave Florida(10-7-6) their first lead of the contest at 12:21 on a Red Wings giveaway in their own defensive zone. Brad Boyes carried the puck through the low right circle and send a cross-ice pass to Jussi Jokinen in the low left circle. He found Bergenheim in the slot and he blasted a one-time slapshot into an open cage.
     The Cats extended their margin to 3-1 just 27 seconds into the third period. Hayes stole the puck from Brendan Smith between the circles in the Detroit zone and Trocheck faked then fired a shot from the high crease.
     Florida moved ahead 4-1 at the eight-minute mark as Aaron Ekblad blasted a slapshot from the top of the zone through traffic following a feed from Jonathan Huberdeau from the left wing. It was his second straight game with a goal and his fourth tally this season for the rookie.
     The Red Wings would not go down easily as they closed the gap to 4-2 with 10:28 remaining. After close range shots by Tomas Jurco from the left circle dot and Jacub Kindl from the doorstep, Datsyuk lifted the puck from the low left circle for his tenth goal this year.
     Gustav Nyquist made it a one-goal game with 58.7 seconds left as Detroit had an extra attacker on the ice. Henrik Zettenberg threw in the initial shot with a backhand from right corner that was deflected by Johan Frazen in front and Nyquist buried in the rebound at the edge of the left circle for his 12th goal.