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Florida snaps road skid in win at Winnipeg

Jan 22, 2012 - 4:15 AM Winnipeg, MB (Sports Network) - Mikael Samuelsson's goal in the seventh round of the shootout gave the Florida Panthers a rare road victory in a 4-3 decision over the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre.

The teams traded goals in the second and fourth rounds of the shootout. Then, after Winnipeg's Alexander Burmistrov had his attempt poke checked away by Scott Clemmensen, Samuelsson raced down the center of the ice and lifted a wrister over the left shoulder of Ondrej Pavelec for the game-deciding goal.

The win snapped an eight-game road losing streak for Florida.

"It is what it is, we just needed a win," Clemmensen said. "It didn't matter what the shot count was or what happened out there, we needed to get a win."

Kris Versteeg had two goals and an assist, while Mike Santorelli also scored in regulation as the Panthers won for the first time as the guests since a 2-0 win in Boston on December 8.

Clemmensen made 41 saves in the win.

Nik Antropov scored twice and Burmistrov added the other Jets goal in Winnipeg's seventh loss in 10 games. Pavelec stopped 20-of-23 shots.

"Well the disappointing part of the game for me was really the fact that we gave them three free goals," said Jets head coach Claude Noel. "I thought that was really disappointing, we had clear possession of the puck three times and our D zone was really not a lot of pressure and we served up three pizzas that ended up in our net."

Winnipeg entered the third period trailing 2-1, but Antropov knotted the game at the 5:54 mark of the final period with a wrister from the right of the net that went through traffic and into the far side of the net.

Versteeg quickly put Florida back on top a minute later when he snatched an errant pass at the Winnipeg blue line and sent a wrister from the high slot that bounced off the glove of Pavelec and trickled past the goal line.

However, the Jets were able to force the extra period after Burmistrov received a pass to the left of the net and hesitated before snapping a shot under Clemmensen's arm to the short side with 6:15 left in regulation.

Each team had chances in overtime as the Panthers hit a post and the Jets supplied almost constant pressure over the final two minutes, but Clemmensen stopped all four shots he faced and Pavelec blocked three to make the shootout necessary.

Two first-period goals by the Panthers put them in early control.

The first came off the stick of Versteeg at the 5:40 mark when he received a pass to the right of the net and cut across the goal mouth before lifting a backhander past Pavelec.

Then, with 15.5 seconds left in the opening period, Krystofer Barch flipped the puck over Pavelec after a scrum out in front that bounced off the hand of Santorelli and went into the net.

Winnipeg failed to score in the period despite having three power plays, including a two-man advantage in which they failed to record a shot.

The Jets, though, took advantage of a power-play opportunity in the second to cut into the Panthers' lead with an Antropov one-timer from the slot off Kyle Wellwood's pass from behind the net.

Game Notes

Florida improved to 15-1-5 when scoring the first goal of the game, while Winnipeg fell to 6-13-4 when allowing the first goal...The Panthers hold a 2-1 advantage in the season series, with each team winning on the road...Florida went 0-for-3 on the power play...Winnipeg was 1-for-5 with the man advantage.