For a long while Tuesday, the Florida Panthers were on the verge of making their newcomers first game in Sunrise an easy one. They were up by three with less than 25 minutes to go, and Andrew Brunette was already experimenting with different lineup combinations.
In less than two minutes, the Panthers’ lead vanished, though, and Florida was caught in another third-period battle, forced to scratch out a 7-4 win on a game-winning goal by Jonathan Huberdeau with 18:41 remaining.
It was another win for these new-look Panthers — they’ve now won 3 of 4 since trade-deadline acquisitions Claude Giroux, Ben Chiarot and Robert Hagg debuted Thursday — but it was also another mixed performance for a group still trying to fully coalesce.
