The New Jersey Devils lead the Florida Panthers, 3-2, after two periods in Game One of their opening playoff series at the Bank Atlantic Center.
Sean Bergenheim scored the Panthers first goal at 7:44 of the middle frame. Bergenheim carried the puck over the blue line, beating Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov around the boards. He cut to the front of the net and poked the puck by Martin Brodeur for his first goal of the postseason.
Kris Versteeg cut the deficit to one with a powerplay tally at the 15:42 mark of the period. Versteeg took a puck near the side boards and split the defense. He cut toward Brodeur and slipped the puck through the five hole of Brodeur for his first goal of the playoffs.
Versteeg has been one of the Panthers best forwards against New Jersey this season. He scored five goals against the Devils in the four regular season meetings, and combined with linemates Stephen Weiss and Tomas Fleischmann to score 11 goals against New Jersey.
Volchenkov, who was also burned on the Versteeg powerplay goal, had a rough period. He was beat on two goals, and also took an interference penalty near the end of the first period.
Brodeur had to be good with his team down a man, stopping several quality scoring chances near the end of the period. He's stopped 18 of 20 shots through two periods.
Florida outshot the Devils, 11-6, in the second period. New Jersey still holds the lead in shots, 32-20.