Sharks Bite Panthers

     The Florida Panthers took on the defending Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at BB&T Center and lost 4-2. It was the second game of a three-game homestand for the club.
     Jason Demers picked up his first goal as a Florida Panther at 5:09 of the first period. After Jared McCann blasted a shot wide of the net, the puck went around the boards to the right point. Demers executed a slapshot that went by Martin Jones and gave Florida(6-7-1) a 1-0 lead.
     The Cats extended their lead by two goals as Demers scored again at 7:26. Jaromir Jagr was in the right circle and placed a wrist shot toward the net. It went off the body of Aleksander Barkov and bounced into the low crease where Demers got the tally.
     San Jose(8-6-0) narrowed the gap to 2-1 with 3:42 left in the first. Brent Burns picked the puck up in the neutral zone and skated by the blue line on a 2-on-1. He dashed through the left circle and shot it past former teammate James Reimer for his sixth goal of the season.
     The Sharks quickly tied the in the second period at 1:53. Joel Ward was on the left-wing boards and fed the puck to Joe Pavelski. He reached the left-wing dot and lifted in a slapshot to even the
contest.
      In the third period, San Jose notched another goal to go up 3-2 at the 8:53 mark. Chris Tierney won a face-off in the right circle of the Panthers zone. Tommy Wingels skated with the puck to the crease area and flipped in a backhand shot. Logan Couture scored into an empty net with 56.3 seconds remaining.