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Roman Josi's knuckle puck confuses Florida Panthers (Video)

Josh Cooper
Screen shot of Roman Josi's goal against the Florida Panthers.
Screen shot of Roman Josi’s goal against the Florida Panthers.

Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi fired a knuckling shot that seemed to confuse the Florida Panthers and found its way past goaltender Roberto Luongo in their game Saturday.

Midway through the first period, Nashville center Ryan Johansen won a faceoff that rolled straight to Josi. The blue liner then wound up and fired a shot while the puck was resting on its side.

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It then fluttered in the air as it made its way towards the Panthers net. Luongo seemed to be in position to snag the quickly diving black disc with his glove until Florida defenseman Jason Demers tipped it into the net by accident. Luongo seemed upset by Demers’ decision to try to play the knuckler. This tied the game at 1-1 at the 9:19 mark of the second.

The Panthers seemed to find their footing after the play with four second period goals and a third period tally to take a 7-4 win. One of Florida’s goals included this one by Nick Bjugstad off tough angle on Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne.

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With the win, the Panthers climbed to 58 points, three back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It was nice,” Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo said. “All of the lines were rolling, controlling the puck in the offensive zone, making some plays. It’s nice to get the goal support.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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