Canucks' Jiri Patera: Late fade in Florida

Patera stopped 33 of 40 shots in Monday's 8-5 loss to the Panthers, with Florida's final goal getting scored into an empty net.

The wild back-and-forth affair saw the Canucks take a 2-0 lead in the first period, fall behind 5-2 midway through the second, then rally to tie it up in the third before the Panthers finally pulled away. Patera didn't give up any egregiously bad goals, but he also showed some nerves at times, which perhaps shouldn't have been surprising considering his first NHL start of the season was coming against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs. Kevin Lankinen should continue to get most of the work while Thatcher Demko (lower body) is sidelined, but Vancouver has back-to-back sets coming up each of the next two weekends, so Patera figures to get at least a little more action while up with the big club.