[moore4807]

Game three of the season opening road trip, one more at Tampa Bay, then back to Sunrise for a couple games in the friendly confines... As agreed at the morning skate Coach Ramsey wanted to dress LW Jesse Winchester (6.5a/6.5a) in place of LW Sean Bergenheim (6.5a/6.5a)to see if the defense was any better from that position. Obviously unhappy Sean Bergenheim just shrugged and said he was a professional and just needed to work harder to gain our trust. Jesse Winchester was obviously delighted and had a noticeable jump in his stride at practice.

The first period was a lot of middle ice play by both teams, until a quick line change called by Coach Ramsey caught the Flyers with only one defenseman back and RW Bobby Butler scored his first goal of the season. Only 38 seconds later another quick line change and a great clearing pass by D Eric Gudbranson led to a tic-tac-toe goal by Butler with his linemates again picking up the assists. That quieted the Wells Fargo Center and the normally boisterous crowd never got back in the game.

The final score was 4 -0 and First Star G Tim Thomas turned away all 28 shots. LW Jonathan Huberdeau scored the Panthers first short handed tally this season late in the third period and the Panthers peppered Flyers starter G Steve Mason with 44 shots.