Panthers’ lead swept away by Hurricanes in 3rd period
In your face.
That’s not an insult — it’s a partial explanation of how the Carolina Hurricanes beat the host Florida Panthers 4-3 on Thursday night.
Justin Williams scored two goals — including one that hit his right cheekbone.
The loss was damaging to the Panthers (26-25-8), who had their three-game win streak snapped and are 10 points behind Carolina in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Florida has one game left — at home against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday — before Tuesday’s NHL trade deadline. Given Thursday’s result, they could be sellers in the trade market leading up to Tuesday.
Williams, who also had an assist, was a big part of why the Panthers lost. He left the ice bleeding after he scored Carolina’s first goal. Yet he quickly returned with gauze in his nose and then scored Carolina’s fourth goal, giving the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead with 17:44 left in the third.
It was Williams’ first two-goal game of the season, and it came at the wrong time for Florida.
The Panthers got three straight second-period goals in a span of 4:15, from Evgenii Dadonov, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.
That gave Florida a 3-2 lead, but Carolina rallied with two third-period goals, from Justin <FZ,1,0,9>Faulk and Williams. Nino Niederreiter scored Carolina’s other goal.
Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek, who had shutouts in two of his three previous starts, made 27 saves to earn the win.
Panthers backup goalie James Reimer (21 saves) made his fourth straight start and had his three-game win streak snapped.
Carolina opened the scoring on Williams’ goal with 5:12 gone in the first period. He tried to deflect Brett Pesce’s shot, but the puck caught him in the face and bounced into the net, between Reimer’s pads.
The Hurricanes went up 2-0 with 4:35 gone in the second period. Williams’ shot from the point was stopped, but Niederreiter pounced on the rebound.
Florida got on the board with 6:53 expired in the first period as Vinny Trocheck forced a turnover along the boards. Jayce Hawryluk picked up the loose puck behind the net and fed Dadonov in the slot.
The Panthers tied the score 2-2 less than three minutes later on Barkov’s power-play goal. Standing just to the left of Mrazek, Barkov jammed in a pass from Dadonov.
Another Carolina penalty — Sebastian Aho called for slashing Trocheck — led to Huberdeau’s power-play goal just 30 seconds later, giving Florida a 3-2 lead.
Carolina got the lead back, 4-3, with those goals by Falk and Williams, which came 2:16 apart to start the third period.
The Panthers had two extra attackers — pulling Reimer and getting a power play — for the final 29 seconds but failed to score.
THIS AND THAT
The Panthers, normally in red at home, wore white at the BB&T Center for the first time this regular season. Carolina wore red instead.
<bullet>The Panthers, who are third in the NHL in power-play goals, went 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
<bullet>Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson, who left Florida’s previous game due to a lower-body injury, was scratched on Thursday, replaced by MacKenzie Weegar.
This story was originally published February 21, 2019 at 10:59 PM.