The Florida Panthers rallied from a pair of one-goal, third period deficits before eventually falling 3-2 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes cashed in on its third first period power play at the 14:02 mark to take a lead they would hold until the final frame. Birthday boy Elias Lindholm got the goal, beating James Reimer with a little deflection in front after working a give-and-go with Sebastian Aho. Teuvo Teravainen drew the second assist on the goal, which came with Aleksander Barkov off for hooking.
The Panthers peppered Cam Ward with 20 shots in the second period, but couldn’t solve the veteran netminder. They finally broke through 4:52 into third when Nick Bjugstad drove to the net after fighting off Teravainen and scored from in tight. The assists on Bjugstad’s sixth went to Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.
After a bad turnover by Mark Pysyk, an all alone Jeff Skinner took a pass from Derek Ryan to notch Carolina’s second power-play marker of the night 3:25 later. The goal was Skinner’s tenth and came with Aaron Ekblad sitting in the sin bin.
Barkov tied the game with 1:56 remaining and Reimer off for an extra attacker, when he slipped a rebound between Ward’s arm and body. Ekblad’s shot from the point struck Vincent Trocheck and came right to the waiting Barkov, who got the Panthers a point.
Noah Hanifin took a pass from Lindholm and put his own rebound home after Reimer denied his initial shot with a nice glove save. Lindholm picked Ekblad’s ill-advised clearing attempt off the boards before feeding Hanifin. The game-winner came with just two seconds left before the game went to a shootout. Ekblad would have been better off skating the puck into the corner and trying to kill the clock.
A terrible first period and a 2 for 5 performance on the penalty kill conspired to cost the Panthers a point in this one. Florida was the better team in the second and third, out-shooting Carolina by a 34-21 margin. The Hurricanes turned the tables back and took it to the tired Cats in overtime, culminating in Hanifin’s late decider. The Panthers return to Sunrise to open a three-game homestand Monday night against the New York Islanders.
Full Highlights (courtesy of NHL.com)
Wind & Water
- Buoyed by a season-high 47 shots, the Hurricanes continued its dominance of the Panthers in Raleigh. Carolina is now 33-10-4 against Florida at PNC Arena.
- For the second straight night, the Panthers wasted a quality start. James Reimer finished with 44 stops, including 18 in the first when his team was out-shot 19-4.
- Cam Ward hasn’t played much this season, but he came up with 37 saves to get his 299th career win.
- In addition to picking up the primary assist on Aleksander Barkov’s game-tying goal, Vincent Trocheck led the Panthers with 8 shots and logged 24:37 TOI, tops among Florida’s forwards.
- Jeff Skinner was a fantasy stats machine. Skinner scored on the power play, registered a game-high 9 shots, had a block, and racked up 4 PIM.
- The chippy game featured bouts between Jared McCann and Brock McGinn and Derek MacKenzie and hero Noah Hanifin.
- Canes Country has the front side of the overtime storm that gave the Canes a 2-0 lead in the season series. /