Final
Fleischmann pushes Panthers past Devils
Nov 22, 2011 - 5:03 AM Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - Tomas Fleischmann's goal with 2:03 to play capped a Florida comeback as the Panthers took a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.Stephen Weiss had a goal and two assists and Kris Versteeg scored twice for the Panthers, who have won their past two games. Jose Theodore stopped 22 shots in the win.
"We found a way to win tonight and we have to be happy about that," said Versteeg. "Aside from that spell in the first period, we played a good game tonight."
Dainius Zubrus, Petr Sykora and Ilya Kovalchuk each had a goal for the Devils, who had won six of eight coming in. Martin Brodeur was touched for all four goals on 36 shots.
New Jersey held a 3-0 lead after scoring three times over a 3:32 span of the first period, but Florida scored twice in the second and Weiss' short-handed goal tied the game at the 9:12 mark of the third.
With Fleischmann in the box, a blocked shot saw Weiss take the puck out of his own zone and send a pass over to the left for Jason Garrison. Weiss got behind the defender and Garrison chipped the puck over and Weiss snapped a shot over the glove of Brodeur.
The go-ahead goal saw Weiss' initial shot from the right wing blocked by a defender, but he was able to get the puck back along the deep right boards. From there he spotted Fleischmann skating down the slot and hit him with a pass. Fleischmann initially faked the shot and moved over to the left to wrist the puck in past a prone Brodeur for a 4-3 lead.
New Jersey pulled Brodeur with over a minute to play, but was unable to net the equalizer.
"No lead is safe in this league," said Brodeur. "I mean we scored three times real quick there, but anyone can do that. They came back and they deserve all the credit tonight."
Starting at the 8:17 mark of the first, the Devils scored in quick succession to take a 3-0 lead.
Kovalchuk got the scoring started on a rush play when he found a loose puck down low to the right of the goaltender and buried it.
Just over a minute later, Adam Larsson's shot from the right point was stopped, but Sykora found the rebound and backhanded it in.
With 8:11 to play in the first, the Devils took a 3-0 lead as Patrik Elias caught up to the puck in the Florida end, faked a shot along the left wing and fed it over to Zubrus for the easy redirect.
Florida began its comeback at the 5:28 mark of the second when Versteeg's first goal of the game came off a scramble in front that saw him wrist the puck in from the left.
A little over five minutes later, the Panthers made it a 3-2 game as Garrison slapped a shot from the left point that Brodeur stopped, but he left the rebound at the right side and Versteeg buried it for his 11th of the season.
Game Notes
Weiss has thee goals and six assists in the past four games, while Versteeg has three goals and five assists during that time...These two split the series the past two seasons...New Jersey hosts Columbus on Wednesday...The Panthers, who sit atop the Southeast Division, host the Rangers on Wednesday.
- NEW JERSEY: 3
FLORIDA: 4
Final
Nov 21 10:02 PM - Florida Goal - Tomas Fleischmann (9), from Stephen Weiss at 17:57.
Devils 3, Panthers 4 3rd - 2:03Nov 21 9:58 PM - Florida Short-Handed Goal - Stephen Weiss (8), from Jason Garrison and Mike Weaver at 9:12.
Devils 3, Panthers 3 3rd - 10:48Nov 21 9:41 PM - NEW JERSEY: 3
FLORIDA: 2
End of 2nd
Nov 21 9:07 PM - Florida Goal - Kris Versteeg (11), from Jason Garrison at 10:40.
Devils 3, Panthers 2 2nd - 9:20Nov 21 8:51 PM - Florida Goal - Kris Versteeg (10), from Dmitry Kulikov and Tomas Fleischmann at 5:28.
Devils 3, Panthers 1 2nd - 14:32Nov 21 8:39 PM - NEW JERSEY: 3
FLORIDA: 0
End of 1st
Nov 21 8:13 PM - NEW JERSEY: 0
FLORIDA: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Nov 21 7:39 PM
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