Tomas Fleischmann (21) buried a rebound off a Wojtek Wolski shot to get the Cats on the board at the seven minute mark. It was Florida’s first goal in 92 minutes of ice time, and only the second time in the last 10 games the Panthers have scored first.
Matt Cooke and Fleischmann were each called for roughing halfway through the second period, and the action was four-on-four for two minutes of exciting overtime hockey.
Jack Skille and Jason Garrison each had a pretty good shot on Fleury as Florida tried to add to their paper thin lead against the high powered Pens, but neither could fool the notorious Panther killer.
Fleischmann stole a pass in the defensive zone and rushed up the ice, but was foiled at the last moment by Brooks Orpik and by Fleury’s quick kick save.
Hits: Panthers, 21-19 (Craig Adams, Chris Kunitz and Joe Vitale had three each for the Pens, Krys Barch and Jack Skille also had three for the Cats)
Blocked Shots: Penguins, 8-7 (Zbynek Michalek blocked three shots for Pittsburgh, Tyson Strachan and Mike Weaver blocked two each for the Panthers)
Faceoffs: Penguins, 17-9 (Jordan Stall went eight-of-11 for the Penguins, Stephen Weiss won two-of-10 for Florida)
Shots on Goal: Panthers, 23-20 (TOmas Fleischmann took four shots for Florida, Tyler Kennedy led Pittsburgh with five)
Score: Panthers 1, Penguins 0