Panthers Dazed By Devils

     The Florida Panthers completed a three-game stretch in the New York tri-state area and were topped by the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at Prudential Center on Saturday. The Panthers will fly to Europe and play two games in Finland against the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL Global Series next week.
     A controversial goal was scored by New Jersey(5-2-1) with 9.4 seconds left in the first period. Damon Severson fired a slap shot from the blue line and James Reimer made a blocker save. He was spun around by Kyle Palmieri in the blue paint and the puck ended up inside the Panthers cage.
     In the second period, Palmieri took the puck from Nico Hischier in the right corner and skated toward the right circle. His saucer cross-ice pass to the low slot was put in on a one-time shot by Taylor Hall at 3:05.
     The Devils expanded the gap to 3-0 with 6:39 remaining in the second. Travis Zajac passed the puck from the left-wing boards to Micro Mueller at the left point. He took a one-time slap shot that was redirected on the edge of the left circle by Blake Coleman into the Panthers net.
     Florida(2-4-3) finally broke the shutout with 4:57 to go in the third period. Jonathan Huberdeau fed a backhand pass in the top left circle to Mike Matheson in the high slot. He skated through the slot area and got his first goal of the season on a backhand shot.
     The Cats pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with just under three minutes to go. They scored with 14.1 seconds left and trailed 3-2. Evgenii Dadonov moved the puck from the right corner to Keith Yandle at the right point. He found Mike Hoffman above the top left circle and he scored on a wrist shot.