Stars Lose To Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers have no chance to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they still would like to end the season on a high note.

The Panthers worked toward that goal at the BB&T Center on Sunday when they ended a season-high five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars.

Dallas remains in Stanley Cup playoff contention, although the loss to the Panthers won’t assist in that goal.

The Panthers won seven of their last 11 games against the Stars, including a 4-2 win in Dallas in the season-opener.

Panthers left winger Sean Bergenheim scored his 16th goal of the season with a tip-in at 15:29 in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.

“They’re playing with a purpose and a resolve and I didn’t think we were,” Panthers coach Peter Horachek said. “I think we were just playing and there wasn’t enough emotion and I wanted our guys to care more with both the result and end result.

“Getting that second one and tying it up was a great momentum boost for us.”

In the first period, Dallas left winger Jamie Benn needed only 45 seconds to put

the Stars on the scoreboard with a wrist shot to the right side of Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo. Benn’s goal came on the Stars’ second shot on goal in the game.

“We stopped skating,” Benn said of surrendering the lead. “You can’t do that, you have to play a full 60-minutes in these games.

“We need to step up as a group and find a way to score.”

At 39 seconds into the second period, Stars center Tyler Seguin took advantage of a power play to score his 36th goal of the season to give Dallas a 2-0 lead.

Seguin has scored goals in four straight games. He scored 11 goals with 23 points in his last 15 games. On the road, Seguin’s tallied points in nine of Dallas’ last 10 road games.

The Panthers stepped up their game in the second period with left winger Scottie Upshall and center Brandon Pirri scoring goals.

Upshall’s goal at 8:20 into the period was his 15th of the season. Pirri, who had an assist on Upshall’s goal, scored his 12th goal of the season at 19:03 in the period.

Pirri has a four-game point streak.

“I have a role on this team,” Pirri said. “Every guy is trying to pull their own weight. When the puck is finding you, you’ve got to make the most of your chances.”

Luongo made 35 saves for the Panthers. Dallas goalie, Kari Lehtonen, allowed three goals on 24 shots by the Panthers.

“We had a really strong second half of the game,” Luongo said. “It seems that we’re a type of team that always gets going after we’re down 2-0.

“We battled hard and tied it up in the second and obviously huge goal there with a few minutes there left in the third.”

The Panthers (28-43-8), who have three regular-season games remaining, came into Sunday’s game with 62 points and already eliminated from playing in the postseason.

“We’ve shown many times this year that we can come back, but we keep on putting ourselves in such a bad position early in the games,” Bergenheim said. “It’s something we haven’t learned.

“It’s something we can’t be happy about. But all in all we can be happy with the way we regrouped.”

The Stars (38-29-11) were coming off a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dallas hasn’t been to the postseason in six years, but is in position for the second West Conference wild-card spot.

“We tried hard to win the game in the third period,” said Dallas coach Lindy Ruff. “We had some good opportunities. We just didn’t manage the puck good enough on the entrance and it cost us. We had an opportunity to make a better play in several situations and we didn’t get the plays made.”

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