A.J. Greer put Florida ahead with a tiebreaking goal in the third period as the Panthers withstood a Carolina Hurricanes comeback to win 6-3 on Friday afternoon in Raleigh, N.C.
Sam Reinhart scored his NHL-leading 18th goal and Jesper Boqvist, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, who’ve followed a four-game skid with two wins in three days. Aaron Ekblad and Eetu Luostraien supplied two assists apiece and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots.
Lundell gave Florida a 5-3 edge at 9:08 in the third period with the team’s league-leading seventh shorthanded goal of the season. Bennett’s 11th of the season was into an empty net with seven seconds left.
Seth Jarvis, Sean Walker and Eric Robinson scored for the Hurricanes, whose nine-game home winning streak was halted. Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists and Spencer Martin made 24 saves.
The Hurricanes rallied for a pair of comeback victories earlier this week with strong third periods. They got back into this game with two goals in the second to pull even at 3-3.
Walker’s second goal of the season 6:24 into the period pulled the Hurricanes to within 3-2. Then it was Robinson from in front of the net, redirecting a Jalen Chatfield delivery to make it 3-3 with 2:42 remaining.
Greer delivered the go-ahead tally 4:58 into the third period before Lundell and Bennett tacked on for Florida.
The Panthers struck first quickly, with Boqvist opening the scoring just 2:26 into the game on his fourth goal of the season.
Carolina responded when Jarvis converted on the game’s first power play at 5:42, breaking free and sliding the puck underneath Bobrovsky. The Hurricanes have scored at least one power-play goal in five straight games.
Reinhart added to his league-leading goal total about 3 1/2 minutes later before Verhaeghe made it 3-1 at 11:21. It marked only the sixth time this season that Carolina trailed at the end of a first period.
The teams play a rematch Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
–Field Level Media
