Penguins Top Panthers

     The Florida Panthers welcomed the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to South Florida on Friday night and were defeated by them 4-3 at BB&T Center. It was the second meeting between both clubs in less than one week.
     After not converting on an early power play, Florida(2-4-0) scored twice in a 94-second span. Radim Vrbata flipped the puck up in the air toward the net from the top of the zone. Matt Murray stopped it and Jamie McGinn whacked in the rebound from the left side of the crease at 4:15.
     The Panthers performed cross-ice passing inside the Penguins zone to go up 2-0 at 5:49. Aaron Ekblad passed the puck from the right point to Keith Yandle on the left point. Yandle forwarded it to Aleksander Barkov in the right circle and he scored on a slap shot for his first goal of the season.
     Pittsburgh(5-2-1) came out with a vengeance at the beginning of the second period. They scored on their first power play of the contest at 2:14 when Phil Kessel made a slap pass from the left circle and Evgeni Malkin stuffed it in from the right side of the blue paint by Roberto Luongo.
     It took another 27 seconds for the Penguins to tie the game 2-2. Following a Panthers turnover on the end wall, Tom Kuhnhackl made a cross-ice pass from the low left circle and Carter Rowney snapped in a shot from the low slot area.
     The Pens converted on their second power play of the game and took their first lead of the game at 11:12. Malkin wired a pass from the low right circle to the top of the crease and Sidney Crosby redirected it into the top of the Panthers cage for his fifth goal of the year.
     In the third period, Florida was able to pull even 3-3 at the 9:19 mark. MacKenzie Weegar, who played in his first game this season, scored his first NHL goal on a slap shot from the top of the right circle.
     The Penguins regained the lead 4-3 on the power play with 2:53 remaining in the third. Conor Sheary came through the low slot and slipped a forehand shot past James Reimer. It was the third power-play goal for the Pens in the contest.