Penguins 4, Panthers 2
Pascal Dupuis had a goal and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins remained unbeaten in regulation, defeating the Florida Panthers 4-2 in their home opener Tuesday night.
With Sidney Crosby still recovering from a concussion and Evgeni Malkin missing his second straight game with a lower-body injury, the Penguins relied on a balanced scoring effort to improve to three victories and an extra-time loss on the season.
Dupuis opened the scoring with just over five minutes left in the first period. After sustained pressure in the Panthers zone, rookie Joe Vitale connected on a short centering pass to Dupuis, whose second attempt beat a fallen Jose Theodore.
Fleury prevented Florida from tying it up later in the period, blindly sweeping his glove into an empty crease to deny Stephen Weiss from in close.
The Penguins doubled the lead near the midway point in the second. Vitale drove the net before shoveling a backhand centering pass to Cooke, who redirected it into the open net for his third goal in four games to open the campaign.
Marcel Goc drew the Panthers within a goal before Pittsburgh struck again while shorthanded, as a Florida turnover led to Richard Park slapping a shot off a Panthers player and past Theodore.
The Panthers closed the gap 3:17 into the third as Weiss made a nifty backhand feed to Tomas Fleischmann, who wired a wrist shot into the top right corner.
James Neal put the game out of reach just over three minutes later, poking home a rebound of a Jordan Staal shot.