Stars Outshine Panthers

     Dan Ellis make his season debut with the Florida Panthers as they lost to the Dallas Stars 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday night at BB&T Center. It was the fifth game of a season-high seven-game homestand for the Panthers who remained two points behind the Boston Bruins for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Stars opened up a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents.
     In the first period, Dallas(29-26-10) struck fast as they scored on their second shot of the game at 2:33. Shawn Horcoff dropped a pass at the top right circle to Jason Demers who slapped a shot toward the net. Curtis McKenzie redirected the puck in for a tally through the legs of Ellis for his second goal of the year.
     Florida(28-23-14) allowed another goal at 12:41 and found themselves in a hole down 2-0. Horcoff skated down the left side on a 2-on-1 breakaway and tried to connect a pass across the low slot. However his pass accidentally went off the stick of Brian Campbell and by Ellis.
     The Panthers got on the scoreboard with 3:00 left in the first to cut the margin. Vincent Trocheck had the puck at his own blue line and fed a left-outlet pass to Brandon Pirri in the neutral zone. He dashed in by himself to the left-circle dot and fired a shot through the pads of Kari Lehtonen for his 13rd goal of the season. It was his fourth goal in the last four games.
     Florida tied the game following being shorthanded at 8:15 of the second period. Dmitry Kulikov had just served a two-minute holding penalty when he bursted out of the penalty box. Jussi Jokinen sent a long lead pass from his own defensive zone to Kulikov at the Stars blue line. He hustled through the slot area and snapped a shot over the left glove of Lehtonen.
     The Cats took their first lead of the game 3-2 with 7:32 to go in the second. Nick Bjugstad made a short pass to Jonathan Huberdeau at the blue line. Huberdeau went to the left circle and scored on a wrist shot from the face-off dot. Kulikov was credited with an assist to complete a Gordie Howe hat trick. Lehtonen was pulled from the net by head coach Lindy Ruff and was replaced by Jhonas Enroth.
     The Stars pulled even with 7:39 to go in the third period. John Klingberg skated around with the puck on the left wing, passed to Alex Goligoski on the right point and he flicked a shot through traffic in front for the score. The Panthers had just two shots on goal during the third period, which included one shot on their second power play of the game.
     There was only one successful attempt during the shootout. Dallas got the victory as Collon Sceviour went with a backhand shot which beat Ellis to the blocker side.