Gerry Mayhew had a goal and an assist, Steven Lorentz potted a shorthanded breakaway, and Mackie Samoskevich and Lucas Carlsson also lit the lamp to the lift the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena.
After a scoreless first period that saw the two teams combine for 12 shots, the Cats finally opened the scoring late in the second by simply not allowing the Hurricanes to exit the zone.
With the Panthers buzzing, Mayhew was able to take possession near the blue line and moved the puck back down to Josh Mahura along the left boards. Carolina got caught with too many players on one side of the ice and Mahura dribbled a pass into the slot to Samoskevich, who delivered a high-quality forehand to backhand finish with 3:51 left in the frame.
Playing a man down, Florida grew the lead at 2:29 of the third when an ill-advised drop pass attempt by Michael Bunting was batted away by Lorentz, who collected the puck near the Carolina blue line and broke in Pytor Kochetkov before solving him with a hard snapper from between the circles.
It only took Bunting 34 seconds to redeem himself as he was left alone in front to convert the rebound of Tony DeAngelo’s shot on the same power play. Jack Drury picked up the secondary assist on the play.
A late tripping call on Mayhew opened the door for the Hurricanes and they tied the tilt with 1:59 remaining in regulation.
After playing catch with the Dmitry Orlov, Brendan Perlini moved in from the left point and wristed a shot by a screened Anthony Stolarz with Kochetkov off for an extra attacker. 2020 second-rounder Noel Gunler was credited with the second assist.
An unhappy Mayhew turned his frown upside 24 seconds later when he gained the zone, dropped the puck to Matt Kiersted, and went from left to right to knock in the bouncing rebound of the defenseman’s shot.
Carlsson dotted the “i” in win by scoring unassisted into an empty net after a turnover at 18:48 to complete the scoring.
Stolarz went the distance and finished with 28 saves while Carolina’s Kochetkov made 24 stops.
Kudos to the Cats, who looked in control of a rather ho-hum affair, and then after facing some adversity, were able to win it late to move to 3-1 in the preseason.
The Panthers will head north off to face the Ottawa Senators on Sunday in Sydney, Nova Scotia in a neutral site game (Hockeyville Canada) that will be broadcast on NHL Network at 4 p.m.