Wings Suffer Overtime Loss to Panthers

The Red Wings continued their road trip with another defeat, losing to the Florida Panthers in overtime, 3-2. The loss also marked the first time that goalie Chris Osgood has lost a game played in the state of Florida.

The game winner came from an Olli Jokinen power play goal, which was the result of a Mathieu Schneider tripping penalty. Jokinen was set up on the blue line between the circles with a clear lane to shoot. He sent a wrist shot to the left of Osgood for the game winner at 1:26 of the overtime period.

The Panthers opened the scoring late in the second period after a scoreless first. Sean Hill sent a pass cross ice to Gary Roberts at the top of the left circle. Roberts’ goal came at 15:27.

The Red Wings tied the score at 6:45 of the third period from a goal created off a strange bounce off the back boards. The puck was shot into the Panthers’ zone by Valtteri Filppula to the right of goalie Roberto Luongo. It came back quickly to the left slot where Daniel Cleary one-timed it past Luongo.

Less than four minutes later the Panthers regained the lead when Rostislav Olesz grabbed the puck in their own zone and skated it through the neutral zone uncontested, then into the Wings’ zone where he sent a wrist shot from the left circle past Osgood on the short side.

At 18:58 of the third period the Wings tied the game again, this time at 2-2. The power play goal came when Henrik Zetterberg took a pass while set up to the left of Luongo on the end line. He skated the puck in front of the crease and put the shot over Luongo’s right shoulder.

Luongo faced 36 shots by the Red Wings, stopping 34 of them, while Osgood stopped 27 of the Panthers’ 30 shots. Both teams scored a power play goal. The Panthers had four opportunities with the man advantage, while the Red Wings had six chances.

The Red Wings next face the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday night.

---

This was the first win for the Florida Panthers over the Red Wings since December 1, 1996. They went 0-5-7 against the Wings during that stretch … The Red Wings remain to be the only team in the NHL that has not participated in a shoot-out … Valtteri Filppula made his NHL debut with the Wings, also becoming the first native of Finland to play for the team.