Panthers blow third period lead in 5-4 loss to Stars

After struggling to score in Saturday's doubleheader against Nashville, the Florida Panthers brought out the offense last night in Dallas. Unfortunately, the club's leaky penalty kill was put to the test in the third period, resulting in two Tyler Seguin power-play goals in a 2:08 span as the Stars erased a 4-3 deficit to win 5-4.

The Panthers opened up an impressive 3-0 lead by the 2:25 mark of the second period. Rocco Grimaldi started the Cats off with a first period tip-in of an Alex Petrovic shot. Scottie Upshall lit the lamp a few minutes later from Sean Bergenheim and Aleksander Barkov to give Florida a 2-0 lead after one. Quinton Howden scored unassisted early in the second to give the Panthers a tidy three-goal advantage.

By the end of the middle frame the game was all even, as the Stars struck back on goals by Valeri Nichushkin, Jason Spezza, and Seguin's first of the night.

After Anders Lindback replaced Dallas starter Kari Lehtonen in the third, the Panthers regained the lead on a Colby Robak goal. Drew Shore picked up the lone helper on Robak's drive.

The Panthers held the lead until Brandon Pirri got called for cross checking on Jamie Benn. Seguin scored 32 seconds later on the ensuing power play from Trevor Daley and Spezza.

Benn drew another cross checking penalty, this time on Robak, to the set the stage for Seguin's winner. Spezza and Ales Hemsky got the helpers on the goal. The assists were the second of the night for both players.

Seguin finished the night with four points. In addition to the three goals, he picked up an assist on Nichushkin's second period tally.

Roberto Luongo went the distance for the Panthers and finished with 23 saves on 28 shots.

The Panthers fell to 0-2-2 in the preseason. Florida faces the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in their final home exhibition game. The teams will meet again Saturday night in Tampa to close out the preseason slate.