The Carolina Hurricanes squandered a two-goal lead in the third period but still managed to snap their three-game losing streak, beating the Panthers in the shootout on Saturday in Florida. Vincent Trocheck, Jake Bean and Warren Foegele scored in regulation, and three Carolina players scored five hole on Sergei Bobrovsky to earn the two points.
Three Thoughts
1. It wasn’t the prettiest win — the Panthers dominated possession and rallied from two goals down in the third to tie the game — but Carolina found a way to get two points on a night when it desperately needed to put an end to a three-game skid.
Martin Necas finished it off in the shootout, but not before a five-goal third period that saw Florida rally, the Hurricanes reclaim the lead, and the Panthers tying it with under two minutes left.
“It wasn’t pretty,” said Foegele, who scored the go-ahead goal with under six minutes left. “Just have to get the win. But we definitely need to figure it out, to be consistent and stick to what makes us successful.
“Right now we’re having spurts of it, but we need to probably stop talking about it and we need we need to do it.”
2. For the second time in as many games against his former team, Trocheck scored against the Panthers. On Carolina’s first power play of the night, Trocheck redirected a Dougie Hamilton shot past Bobrovsky (30 saves) to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
He also helped Carolina in the shootout, scoring as the second shooter. It was his first time playing in Sunrise since we was traded to the Hurricanes just over a year ago, and the Panthers honored his time in Florida with a video tribute.
“It’s a good feeling,” Trocheck said. “Obviously, I played here for a long time and (have) a lot of good memories here. But to be able to come back, play against them and get the win is really special.”
3. Special teams were the difference for the Hurricanes. Not only did Carolina score on its first two power play opportunities, but the penalty kill shut down the Florida power play in the first two periods to keep the game close.
“The big thing was the penalty kill,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I know we gave up one, but that’s a great power play over there. And if you really look, we actually probably had more chances than they did. … I thought the penalty kill, in that stretch in the second period really kind of flipped the momentum and got us kind of rolling.”
Number To Know
10 — Assists for Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce after he had two Saturday night. He’s reached double digits in just 20 games this season, and — despite this season being shortened to 56 games — he is on pace for a career-high 26 assists and has two goals so far. His previous best statistical season was 2018-19 when he had seven goals, 22 assists and 29 points.
They Said It
“It was so weird. It was awesome to see the tribute they gave me. It was very classy of them; obviously, a little emotional. I was just trying to keep it together, really.”
— Vincent Trocheck on being honored by his former team during his first game as a visiting player in Florida
Plus
Jake Bean, Hurricanes defenseman — It was a mostly quiet night for Bean — not the worst thing for a rookie defenseman — until the start of the third period. Carolina went on the power play for the second time in the game just moments into the final period on a delay of game call, and Bean — quarterbacking the second unit — wristed a shot past Bobrovsky for his first career NHL goal that gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead.
“Goals are nice, points are nice, but I think the confidence is coming from kind of all over the ice,” Bean said. “(It’)s coming from playing against good players and playing solid D and making a good first pass and kind of figuring out my gaps and adjusting to that. And as I get more comfortable, that helps my confidence the most.”
Minus
Andrei Svechnikov, Hurricanes forward — Svechnikov’s ascent into the NHL’s elite has stalled as he reached 12 games without a goal other than one empty-netter. Furthermore, Svechnikov took an ill-advised penalty in the third period with Carolina up 2-0 that led to the Panthers’ first goal at 8:13. Florida followed that up with a goal two minutes later that tied the game. Svechnikov was also one of two Hurricanes to miss in the shootout. He was stopped by Bobrovsky with a chance to win it in the third round.
