Panthers Vs. Devils, NHL Playoffs 2012 Game 2: Rats Rain Down As Florida Evens Series

For the first time since 1997, the Florida Panthers have won a playoff game. It has been a long time coming, and they almost squeaked this one away to the New Jersey Devils in the third period, but the Panthers were victorious, taking the 4-2 victory and evening the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series at one game a piece.

The Devils really made a strong charge in the final period. Just :48 into the session, Travis Zajac scored to cut Florida's 3-0 lead down to two goals, and 1:14 later, Ilya Kovalchuk pulled his club within one goal. But they couldn't get any closer than that as Florida split possession time with New Jersey, failing to allow them to put together enough sustained pressure to tie up the game.

Tomas Fleischmann finished it off with an empty netter at the 19:59 mark of the period, and that gave Panthers fans a chance to bring out an old tradition: Rats!