Panthers Fight Off Wild

     The Florida Panthers pulled off a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Monday night. It was the first regulation win ever in Minnesota by Florida as they won their fifth straight game. Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville will return to Chicago on Tuesday to face his former team as the Panthers play their final contest before the NHL All-Star Game against the Blackhawks.
     Florida(27-16-5) made it 1-0 at the 4:01 mark of the first period. Mike Hoffman fed a diagonal pass from the right wing to Keith Yandle in the low slot for his sixth goal of the campaign. Hoffman extended his point streak to nine games.
     It would be a tie game by Minnesota(22-21-6) during a power play with 17 seconds remaining in the first. Jared Spurgeon scored on assists from Eric Staal and Ryan Suter.
     In the second period, the Panthers reclaimed the lead 2-1 at 7:28. Josh Brown sent a lead pass to Aleksander Barkov on the right side of the neutral zone. He skated through the right circle and lifted a forehand shot from the crease over Alex Stalock.
     The Wild answered back with a shorthanded goal with 9:01 left in the period. Josh Brodin forwarded the puck from his own zone down the wall and Joel Erikkson Ek went into the Panthers zone on the left wing. He centered it to Luke Kunin in the slot area and he placed a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.
     The Cats had the first goal for the third consecutive frame at the 2:02 mark on the man advantage. Hoffman angled the puck back to Yandle at the top of zone. His slap shot was redirected in by Evgenii Dadonov in the low slot.
     It was matched again by Minnesota at 4:19 with a power-play tally to make it 3-3. Suter walked the puck near the blue from the left point to the middle. He connected a pass to Spurgeon at the top right circle and he snapped a shot. A save was made by Bobrovsky, however Zach Parise knocked in the rebound from the right of the crease.
     The Wild finally got their first lead of the contest less than three minutes later at 7:06. Marcus Foligno backhanded it into the Panthers zone from the red line. Erikkson Ek passed the puck from the left wing and Kunin put in a snap shot from the slot area for his second goal and 12th goal of the season.
     Florida tied it up 4-4 with 4:08 remaining in the third period as Vincent Trocheck nailed his seventh goal of the year. Yandle compiled his fourth point of game with the secondary assist on the play.
     The Panthers got a goal with 5.4 seconds to go and took a 5-4 lead. Mark Pysyk fired a slap shot that was deflected by both Aaron Ekblad in the high slot and Noel Acciari in the crease.