The Florida Panthers finally returned to the win column on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
A three-game losing streak had held the Panthers without a victory since November 1st. With the win, the Panthers are now 5-4-4 on the season and have 14 points. The win also evened up Florida's record at BB&T Center where it is now 3-3.
The Panthers put two goals on the board in the first period and they came less than two minutes apart from each other. Jimmy Hayes and Aleksander Barkov each picked up their second goal of the season. Hayes' score was assisted on by Vincent Trocheck and Jussi Jokinen. Barkov meanwhile got a helping hand from Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky.
In the second period, Derek MacKenzie also notched his second goal of the season with an assist from Aaron Ekblad. The fourth and final goal was scored in the third period off the stick of Tomas Fleischmann. Eklblad also assisted on that one as did Shawn Thornton.
After sitting out their last game, Roberto Luongo was back in the net for the Panthers and it was a welcome sight. His backup Al Montoya had a rough game filling in but Luongo did a good job in his return. The goalie saved 21 of 22 chances. The one goal for the Sharks came in the third period with Florida up four at the time.
Sean Bergenheim missed another game with a lower body injury while Dmitry Kulikov was scratched with a knee injury.
Florida will stay home for a game against the New York Islanders on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
