Panthers Pound the Penguins

Still think the Florida Panthers’ style is boring?

Although they’re better known for their solid defense, the Panthers on Friday showed they can score--and shoot--with the NHL’s best. Mounting a relentless attack that produced 23 shots in the third period and 61 overall, the Panthers trounced the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, before a delighted sellout crowd of 14,703 at Miami Arena.

In taking a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series, the Panthers staged a masterful show in the final 20 minutes. Stu Barnes scored twice on Penguin goalie Tom Barrasso in the first 4:55 and Martin Straka scored his first playoff goal at 7:37, complementing a superb defensive effort. The Penguins, the NHL’s highest-scoring team during the season, didn’t take a shot in the final period until less than four minutes remained. They took only two shots in the period and 28 in the game in losing for the first time in six road playoff games.

“Sixty-one shots. It’s hard for me to believe now,” said Panther goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who squared off with Barrasso in a melee at the end of the game. “That was a LOT.”

It was the most in this spring’s playoffs by one team in a regulation game and it dispelled any notions that the Panthers--who totaled 57 shots in the first two games--are one-dimensional. “If this is the result [of being a boring team] I don’t mind. Boredom is beautiful,” Florida Coach Doug MacLean said. “I’m a boring guy and I kind of like it.”

The fans were well entertained, and well prepared. They came armed with plenty of plastic rats to throw onto the ice after Panther goals, a custom begun when winger Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the locker room before the home opener and scored two goals in what Vanbiesbrouck dubbed “a rat trick.” Hundreds of the toys cascaded onto the ice, some of them outfitted in miniature Panther uniforms and parachutes

The parachutes were appropriate, since Penguin Coach Ed Johnston said some of his players pulled their own chutes early.

“I’m really disappointed and embarrassed with the way we played,” said Johnston, a former NHL goalie who said he never faced so many shots in a playoff game. “When you get 60 shots against you, that tells me you’re not checking anybody and you’re not hitting anybody. . . . As soon as they made it 4-2, it looked like we folded the tent.”

It was a shocking reversal for the Penguins, who seemed to gain strength during the four-day layoff since they won Game 2 on Monday at Pittsburgh.

Ray Sheppard gave Florida the lead 1:46 into the game when he stopped and cut on the left wing and slid a shot under Barrasso’s left leg, but the Penguins tied it at 16:02 when Bryan Smolinski converted a rebound. Petr Nedved lifted a wrist shot over Vanbiesbrouck’s arm to put Pittsburgh ahead only 27 seconds into the second period, but the Panthers didn’t fold.

Rookie winger Radek Dvorak, who suffered a lacerated lip and lost three teeth in the first period when he was high-sticked by Sergei Zubov, tied the game with his first playoff goal at 3:51, shooting past a pileup in front of the net.

“They outworked us,” said Penguin winger Dave Roche.

That work led to a “rat trick” by Barnes. His first goal, scored during a power play, was a floater off a rebound, and the second was a second-effort back-hander. Straka completed the scoring by deflecting Gord Murphy’s shot, giving 22 Panthers at least a point in the playoffs.

“We just kept on going,” Sheppard said. “Two-two for them, that’s a pretty good situation to be on the road going into the third period.”

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NHL Notes

Colorado Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux was suspended for one game and fined $1,000 for punching Detroit forward Vyacheslav Kozlov in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. Detroit’s Paul Coffey, who sat out the game because of lingering back spasms, said the injury is improved but he is unsure of his availability for Game 4 tonight. . . . Andy Murray, a former assistant coach with the Jets, won a lawsuit over his dismissal and was awarded about $160,000 in Winnipeg.