Cats beat Wild in straight sets: 5-2, 5-2.

Florida -- The Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to five games last night with a 5-2 win at home over the Minnesota Wild.

The game was the back half of a home-and-home series. The Southern Cats took game one by the exact same 5-2 score.

The first game in Minnesota saw the Panthers erase a 2-0 second period deficit with 5 unanswered goals. Kyle Calder powered the Cats with a two goal game. Nathan Horton scored his 18th of the season and it stood as the game winner. Slick Cats defender, Sergei Zubov had a three point night with a goal and two helpers. Patrick Lalime was in goal for Florida and took the win. Ryan Miller was pulled from the game in the third by Wild coach Jacques Lemaire.

The second game was played in front of a sold out crowd in South Florida. The home team pounced on the Wild and held a 3-0 lead after two. Jay Bouwmeester scored his first in a Panther uniform this season and Evgeni Malkin scored the winner. Mike Modano and Derrick Walser scored third period goals for the Wild. Lalime won his second straight battle over Miller. Lemaire had his hook out again as he pulled Miller in favour of veteran Curtis Joseph.

Game Notes: The Panthers are 6-1-1 since the Jason Spezza - Jay Bouwmeester trade....the Cats have 25 sellouts this season from 28 home dates....Malkin and Marc Savard are one-two in the NsHL Scoring race....Malkin came back a little too early from his groin injury (ouch!)....he is expected to play Saturday night in Los Angeles although he will play a much more minor role.

Panthers rout Thrashers 7-1

Florida -- The Florida Panthers made their sold out home crowd happy as Branislav Mezei had two goals and an assist to help lead the team to a 7-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers Saturday night at the Enterprise Car Rental Center.

The Panthers (28-16-5) opened up scoring on a power play at 10:26 of the first period when Marc Savard centered a pass to Mezei who scored from the slot. Nathan Horton and Antti Miettinen also scored first period markers as the Cats jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

“We were flying at the start of the game,” said Head Coach Mike Keenan. “With 18 shots in the opening period it allowed us to take control and never let them get going.”

Horton scored his second goal of the game 5-hole on Atlanta goalie Evgeni Nabokov at 8:19 of the second from the right circle off a pass from Kyle Calder as the Panthers took a 4-0 lead. Panthers defender Braydon Coburn scored his 9^th of the season to make it 5-0 after two.

The Thrashers (21-25-3) got on the board at 10:54 of the third when Mike Cammalleri scored on the power-play. At 17:09 of the third period Patrick Eaves scored as he banked the puck of the back of Ty Conklin who replaced Nabokov to start the third. Mezei capped off scoring at 19:13 when he took a pass from Miettinen and scored glove-side on Conklin, making the final score 7-1 Florida.

“He had a strong game,” Miettinen said of Mezei. “The big guy was a force in both ends of the rink. Hitting, scoring and providing great defense.”

Manny Fernandez had 19 saves on 20 shots to win his 8th of the season. Nabokov had 19 saves on 24 shots while backup Conklin had six saves on eight shots after replacing Nabokov at the start of the third.

Game Notes: Marc Savard had a big game for Florida pitching in four helpers ... Ed Jovanovski played 25 minutes and was a plus four ... Savard leads the NsHL with a plus27 ... He also leads the league with 39 assists ... second year pivot Evgeni Malkin continues to lead the league in points with 59 points ... He’ll need to play the best hockey of his life to lead the league through the second half of the season ... the NsHL is a very strong league and a host of Superstar players are breathing down his neck including teammate Marc Savard.

Panthers sign two

Florida -- The Florida Panthers signed two players to contracts last night. The Panthers signed 23 year-old center Matt Fornataro and 25 year-old right-winger Brandon Segal.

Earlier this week the Panthers made one of the most talked about trades in recent memory when they traded Jason Spezza and Daniel Carcillo to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Jay Bouwmeester and a draft pick. Because they lost two starting forwards from their roster the Panthers management decided it was time to re-stock the shelves.

Both Fornataro and Segal will be sent to the minors to get some added seasoning with the Jacksonville Jokers.

Fornataro, originally from Calgary, Alberta spent four seasons with New Hampshire University where he tallied 118 points in 158 games.
**for you NHL fans, Matt was signed by the San Jose Sharks in 2008 and currently plays with the Worcsheter Sharks**

Segal, originally from Richmond, British Columbia played in the Western Hockey League with the Calgary Hitman. He scored 206 points and had 434 penalty minutes in his Junior career.

**for you NHL fans, Brandon played his FIRST NHL GAME on March 3 for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Segal has suited up twice for TB and averaged about 13 minutes of ice-time.**

Cats get defensive.

Florida -- The Florida Panthers made a shocking trade last night acquiring Jay Bouwmeester from the Nashville Predators. In Jay the Panthers get a 6'4 220 lb defenseman who can handle things at both ends of the rink. The smooth skating Bouwmeester has 18 points in 45 games this season.

The deal was a costly one as the Panthers gave up Jason Spezza. It was the classic deal that helps both teams. The Predators pick up a pivot who will play number one minutes while the Panthers bring the help they need on defense.

The trade breaksdown as follows:

TO FLA - Jay Bouwmeester and a first round pick in this year's draft (ATL)

TO NAS - Jason Spezza and Daniel Carcillo

Panthers GM Ironmike has this to say ..... "It was tough trade to make. Jason Spezza has been the face of this franchise for a number of years and posted big numbers for our club. We thank Jason for his contribution and for what he brought to our team. Daniel Carcillo is a young hard nosed winger who is just starting to make a name for himself in this league. We thank Daniel for his effort this season and wish him well in the future.
This season we have struggled on defense. The team is second in the league in team scoring but near the bottom in team defence. We have regularly given up too many quality scoring chances. It shows up on the scoreboard every night and we wanted to address this problem before the playoffs. Jay Bouwmeester can solidify our defense for years to come. He can shutdown top players and he can join the rush to create scoring chances. He skates and handles the puck well and we think he'll will fit in well with our defense corps."

Bouwmeester will suit up tonight when the Panthers play Montreal. The speculation is he'll be paired with veteran Chris Chelios. Bouwmeester should also see playing time on the power play with slick defender Sergei Zubov.

Spezza on the move??!?

Florida -- The Florida Panthers announced Jason Spezza would not be in the line-up for their Wednesday game at home against their Southeast rival the Atlanta Thrashers.

Spezza is 100% healthy and the speculation is he could be on the move this week. The Panthers did not make any moves during the recent trade summit although they were hard work talking to many different teams.

"Jason will not play tomorrow night," said Panthers GM Ironmike. "We've been in contact with the Spezza camp and they understand we are trying to do what is best for the team and what's best for Jason Spezza. I'm not sure what will happen over the next 24-48 hours. But i can guarantee Jason will have fresh legs and be ready to play at an elite level later this week."

Obviously the whole story is not being released by Panthers Management. It appears the next few days will be vital to Florida Panthers and the rest of the NsHL.