Pens lose 4-3 in overtime to Panthers (6-Nov-2002)
In Martin Straka's return to action, Pittsburgh loses 4-3 to Florida on a Valeri Bure overtime power play goal. Mario Lemieux had sent the game to overtime with a goal with 8.8 seconds to go in the third period. Dick Tarnstrom and Alexandre Daigle scored the other Penguin goals. The real story of the game though was the strong play of Florida goaltender, Roberto Luongo.
Lines: Morozov-Lemieux-Kovalev, Straka-Hrdina-Daigle, LaCouture-Primeau-Nieminen. Extra forwards McKenna and Manderville.
Defensive pairings: Tarnstrom-Moran, Bergevin-Rozsival and Melichar-Pushor. Extra defenseman: Laukkanen.
Goaltender: Johan Hedberg
Captain: Mario Lemieux
Alternate captains: Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka.
The Penguins opened the scoring at 6:11 of the first period with a Dick Tarnstrom goal. Tarnstrom took a drop pass from Mario Lemieux and wristed the puck by Roberto Luongo from above the left circle.
Pittsburgh, Dick Tarnstrom 3 (Mario Lemieux, Ian Moran), 6:11
Florida tied it up with just under a minute and a half to go in the period with a Viktor Kozlov goal. Kozlov came in on a two-on-one, kept the puck and beat Johan Hedberg with a slapshot from the middle of the right circle.
Florida, Viktor Kozlov 2 (Olli Jokinen), 18:38
1st Period Penalties: No penalties.
Shots after one period were 14-6 in favor of Pittsburgh. Luongo was the story of the first as he turned aside 13 Penguin shots.
The Pens had a 2-1 lead when Alexandre Daigle scored at 12:55 of the second period. Daigle took a pass from Martin Straka, skated in on a breakaway and beat Luongo short-side with a backhander.
Pittsburgh, Alexandre Daigle 2 (Martin Straka, Janne Laukkanen), 12:55
Olli Jokinen knotted the game at two at 14:07. Jokinen took a pass from Kozlov and snapped it high glove-hand past Hedberg from the slot.
Florida, Olli Jokinen 6 (Viktor Kozlov, Brad Ference), 14:07
Florida went up 3-2 when Kristian Huselius scored with just under three minutes to go in the second. Huselius got to a rebound of a Marcus Nilson shot and flipped it over Hedberg from in close.
Florida, Kristian Huselius 5 (Marcus Nilson), 17:03
2nd Period Penalties: Fla, Johnson, (Tripping) 6:36.
Shots after two were tied at 18.
The lone goal of the third was scored by Mario Lemieux with 8.8 seconds remaining in the period. With Hedberg pulled and after a furious goalmouth scramble, Lemieux shovelled it in from just outside the crease.
Pittsburgh, Mario Lemieux 8 (Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka), 19:51
3rd Period Penalties: No penalties.
Shots after regulation were 29-23 in favor of the Penguins.
Valeri Bure scored the game-winner for Florida on the power play at 2:19. While Ian Moran was off for tripping, Bure took a circle-to-circle pass from Huselius and wristed it by Hedberg from the left faceoff dot.
