Hurricanes Move Through Panthers

     The Florida Panthers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 at PNC Arena on Sunday. Keith Yandle of the Panthers played in his 1,000th game in the National Hockey League. 

     The Panthers lost in regulation for just the fifth time during the regular season. The Hurricanes extended their winning streak to five games and jumped over the Panthers for second place in the Central Division.  

     In the first period, Carolina(17-6-1) moved ahead 1-0 on the power play with 4:05 remaining. Dougie Hamilton angled a pass from the blue line to Andrei Svechnikov on the left point. He connected a pass to the left of the crease and Vincent Trocheck put in a wrist shot by Chris Driedger for his 13th goal this season. Trocheck got his fourth goal this year against his former team and now has a five-game point streak. 

     The Hurricanes made it 2-0 at 4:52 of the second period. Martin Necas carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the high slot. His outlet pass went to Nino Niederreiter on the left-circle dot and he snapped a shot from the left wing for his 11th goal of the campaign. Niederreiter scored in his second straight contest while Necas expanded his assist and point streak to four games. 

     Florida(15-5-4) cut the lead to 2-1 with 9:19 to go in the second. Noel Acciari won a right-circle faceoff and MacKenzie Weegar blasted a slap shot from above the right circle past James Reimer. It was Weegar's first goal in the last nine games. 

     The Canes were able to get a shorthanded goal just 38 seconds into the third period. Jaccob Slavin forwarded a lead pass from the Carolina goal line to Jordan Martinook at the Panthers blue line for a 2-on-1 break. He backhanded it from the right circle to the high slot and Sebastian Aho released a wrist shot for his ninth goal this season. 

     It became a two-goal margin again for Carolina at the 3:41 mark with the man advantage. Brock McGinn made a clearing pass from his own zone. Warren Foegele brought the puck in on a breakaway and scored with a forehand shot from the left of the crease. 

     The Panthers chopped it down to 4-2 at 9:09 of the third. Alekander Barkov was on the left point and passed to Jonathan Huberdeau. He dashed to the low left circle, centered it and Mason Marchment roofed a wrist shot into a wide-open net from the right of the crease for his second NHL goal. Bavkov increased his point streak to six games. Huberdeau placed his point streak to three games with two goals and three assists during that span.