The Florida Panthers couldn’t hold the lead and ended up falling to the Carolina Hurricanes by a 4-1 count in preseason action from PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
After Mackie Samoskevich drew a hooking call on Felix Unger Sorum, the Panthers power play clicked at the 13:01 mark. Gerry Mayhew got behind the Hurricanes defense to receive a pass from Kevin Stenlund and then had Brett Pesce poke the puck off his stick past a befuddled Antti Raanta. Lucas Carlsson picked up the secondary assist on the play.
Spencer Knight saved all 12 shots in the opening frame, helping the Cats kill off a pair of Carolina power plays before they converted on their lone opportunity.
Knight only saw five shots in the second and stopped them all to get his outmanned club to the dressing room still nursing a one-goal advantage.
The Hurricanes would erupt for three goals in a 3:19 span early in third period to pull away.
Stefan Noesen finished off a pass from Jesperi Kotkaniemi with Grigori Denisenko off for hooking at 1:07 of the third before Ryan Suzuki got the game-winner at 3:43 with a shot inside the right post from a sharp angle, with the lone assist going to Brendan Perlini. Michael Bunting set-up Brady Skjei’s one-timer on a 3-on-1 rush 31 seconds later to put the home team up by two and then completed the scoring with an empty-netter with 1:39 remaining from Jaccob Slavin and Kotkaniemi. Unger Sorum had the second assist on Noesen’s goal.
Considering the quality of the lineup that they sent to Raleigh, the Panthers put forth a gritty effort for 40 minutes against the much more NHL-quality Hurricanes roster before seeing the wheels fall off early in the third.
We knew going into the game the Cats were lacking in offensive skill and it showed on the score sheet as they were only able to generate 15 shots on goal. Justin Sourdif, William Lockwood and veteran Zac Dalpe were the only Panthers to muster two shots.
Knight went the distance and finished the game with 27 saves. Raanta stopped 8 of the nine shots he faced before giving way to 23-year-old Yaniv Perets, who made six saves.
The two teams will meet again at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday at 6 p.m.