Ducks Slide By Panthers

     The Florida Panthers were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 at Honda Center on Sunday night. The Panthers had their four-game winning streak stopped and end their four-game road trip on Tuesday in Dallas.
     Anaheim(30-35-9) moved ahead 1-0 just 1:29 into the first period on a power-play goal. Ryan Getzlaf snapped a shot from the above the top right circle that hit off Nick Ritchie at the edge of the crease. Devin Shore followed with a wrist shot from the slot area by Sam Montembeault for his ninth goal of the year.
     Florida(32-29-12) struck back early in the second period at 11 seconds. Aleksander Barkov had the puck on the left wing and centered it to Jonathan Huberdeau in the high slot. He slid a backhand pass to his left and Evgenni Dadonov and he put in a one-time snap shot from the left of the crease for his 25th goal of the campaign. Huberdeau set a Panthers franchise record with his 54th assist of the season. He passed Viktor Kozlov who had 53 assists back in 1999-2000.
     The Ducks made it 2-1 with 7:56 to go in the second. Adam Henrique received a pass from Getzlaf inside the Florida blue line, skated to the left circle and scored his 17th goal on a wrist shot from the low slot. It was his first goal in the last five games.
     In the third period, the Panthers tied it up again at the 3:33 mark. Huberdeau brought the puck across the Ducks blue line to the high slot and angled a pass to his right. Aaron Ekblad redirected it past John Gibson from the right of the crease. Barkov was also credited with an assist on that play.
     Anaheim waited until 4:43 left in the third to lead 3-2. Rickard Rakell took the puck from Mike Matheson behind the Panthers cage. He softly passed it to the crease area and Jakob Silverberg shoveled in a backhand shot for his 22nd tally of the season.