The Pittsburgh Penguins stormed back from a 4-1 2nd-period deficit to tie the score at 4-4 on Friday night, but lost a 6-4 road decision to the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Florida.
Dustin Jeffrey, Paul Martin and Chris Kunitz all scored in a span of 5:14 in the middle of the second period, but Tomas Fleischman gave the lead back to the Panthers (6-9-4) at the 3:29 mark of the third frame, and Tomas Kopecky recorded an empty-net goal with 1:00 remaining to complete his first NHL hat trick.
James Neal also scored for the Penguins (13-7), netting his 13th goal of the season, and Sidney Crosby added two assists. Marc-Andre Fleury (10-4) took the loss in goal after replacing starter Tomas Vokoun. Fleury stopped 12 of 13 shots.
The Pens will play a road contest against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Radio pregame airtime on 96.3 KQW will be 6:30 PM.
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