Panthers win shootout once again, defeat Penguins

[December 23, 2014]  Panthers 4, Penguins 3 (SO): Aleksander Barkov scored in the seventh round of the shootout and Roberto Luongo denied all seven attempts as Florida salvaged a split of a home-and-home series with visiting Pittsburgh.

Luongo made a pair of pad saves to deny Evgeni Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby while going step-for-step in the bonus format with Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves), who was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week. Barkov ended the marathon after skating in slowly and deking to the left before extending his right arm and shoveling the puck over the glove and pad of Fleury.

Jimmy Hayes scored twice early in the third period for his third career two-goal performance for the Panthers, who avenged a 3-1 loss on Saturday and improved to 4-1-1 in their last six games. Former Penguin Jussi Jokinen also tallied, Sean Bergenheim notched a pair of assists and Luongo turned aside 24 shots.

Nick Spaling (power play) and Malkin scored 1:42 apart late in the third period to forge a 3-3 tie. Patric Hornqvist also tallied for Pittsburgh, which extended its point streak to eight games (5-0-3) despite the loss.

Hayes' sharp-angle shot from the right-circle gave Florida a 2-1 lead just 22 seconds into the third before he poked home a loose puck in the crease 4 1/2 minutes later. Pittsburgh answered in quick fashion as Spaling deflected rookie defenseman Derrick Pouliot's shot from the point with 4:52 remaining in the third and Malkin converted his third attempt from the right doorstep to forge a tie.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Crosby was credited with his 27th assist on Hornqvist's goal 4:39 into the contest. The reigning Hart Trophy winner resides three assists shy of Philadelphia RW Jakub Voracek and captain Claude Giroux for the NHL lead. ... The Penguins dressed only 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Monday after sending Fs Steve Downie and Brandon Sutter as well as G Thomas Greiss back to Pittsburgh to be tested for the mumps. G Jeff Zatkoff was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League to serve as Fleury's backup. ... Penguins D Taylor Chorney had two blocked shots in 6:06 of ice time while making his NHL debut.

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.