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 9th 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.
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