Florida did this in spite of being out shot 41 to 16. The victory pushed the cats to above .500 for the season for the first time since game seven.
The win may not have been pretty, but I'll take it. I stayed up to watch it on NHL Center Ice like I will do with tonight's game against Calgary. It wasn't till Radek Dvorak scored a empty net goal in the last five seconds of the game that I breathed easy. I all too well remember Florida's blown 2-goal lead to Edmonton from last season.
Florida has won their last four games on the road. This road trip has three more stops, Calgary where the Panthers will face their former coach Mike Keenan, the Roberto Luongoless Vancouver Canucks, then arch nemesis Carolina. Florida has scored points in 8 of their last 9 games, that in spite of being seriously banged up. The team is down five forwards at present, most of whom are the teams leading scorers. David Booth, Cory Stilman, Richard Zednik, Nathan Horton. Which makes the team's present run more incredible in my eyes. Now if the cats can win 2 of the last 3 road games, I may start seriously thinking of them as playoff contenders.
On a side note, Tampa snapped their losing streak by defeating Montreal last night. Unlike former coach Barry Melrose, I don't wish the Bolts to lose. Except if they play Florida of course.
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Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, NHL, Tampa Bay Lightning
