Panthers Outshine Stars In Shootout

     The Florida Panthers returned home to Sunrise for one game and defeated the Dallas Stars 4-3 in a shootout at BB&T Center on Tuesday night. The Panthers are in a stretch in which they play six of seven games on the road. The Cats now head out to California for a three-game road trip. Panthers center Curtis Valk made his NHL debut with the club.
     Florida(7-9-2) charged out to the lead in the first period on their first power-play attempt. Vincent Trocheck fed a pass from the high slot to Jonathan Huberdeau on the edge of the left circle and he snapped a shot by Kari Lehtonen at 5:13. The Stars had the first shot on goal in the contest and the Cats answered back with six straight shots in the first nine minutes.
     The Panthers added another goal near the end of their third power play. Keith Yandle was at the top of the zone and angled a pass to Aleksander Barkov in the left circle. He rifled a cross-ice pass through the crease that Huberdeau tipped in from the right side of the crease at the 15:37 mark.
     Dallas(9-8-1) closed the gap with 2:10 remaining in the first. Alexander Radulov entered the Panthers zone toward the right side on a 2-on-1 break. He flipped a centering pass and Jamie Benn shot the puck past Roberto Luongo.
     In the second period, the Stars capitalized on a situation and tied the game 2-2 at 10:56. Luongo lost the puck behind the Panthers cage and Radulov fed a pass to Benn in the right circle. He fluttered a wrist shot that went in for his second goal of the game and 10th of the season.
     Just over a minute later, Dallas scored a third straight goal. Martin Hanzal won a face-off in the left circle and drew the puck back to Jason Spezza behind him. Spezza connected a pass to Remi Elie in the right circle and he flicked a backhand shot for the tally at 12:03.
     The Cats had just finished their fourth power play when they evened it up 3-3 at 2:55 of the third period. Mike Matheson, who played in his 100th NHL game, hit a slap shot from the left point that bounced off a defender to Barkov in the low left circle. He redirected it high toward the net for his seventh goal of the year.
     There was no scoring in overtime and the contest went to a shootout. Tyler Seguin scored on the Stars first attempt. Barkov put in a backhand shot on the Panthers second attempt then Trocheck scored on a snap shot on their third attempt to give Florida the victory.