Hurricanes Leap By Panthers

     The Florida Panthers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 at PNC Center on Tuesday night.  Florida had their season-high winning streak of six games snapped. The Panthers stayed in first place inside the Central Division while the Hurricanes jumped up to second place. 

     Florida(26-10-4) made it 1-0 with 8:41 left in the first period. Aleksander Barkov scored on assists by MacKenzie Weegar and Carter Verhaeghe. Barkov and Weegar expanded their point streak to three games 

     In the second period, Carolina(26-9-3) evened it up 1-1 with 1:57 remaining with a power-play goal. Vincent Trocheck compiled his 15th goal of the year. Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov were credited with assists on the play. Trocheck, who expanded his point streak to five games, scored in his fifth consecutive game against his former team. 

     The Panthers answered back just 27 seconds later to regain the lead 2-1. Barkov got his second tally of the game by Petr Mrazek and 16th goal of the season. Verhaeghe got his second assist of the contest and Mason Marchment had the secondary assist. 

     The Hurricanes tied it up again just 45 seconds into the third period. Trocheck chalked his second power-play goal of the contest. Dougie Hamilton and Aho provided assists during the man advantage. 

     It became 3-2 for the Canes at 8:52. Jordan Staal carried the puck from his own zone all the way to the offensive zone. He snapped a shot from the left circle which Sergei Bobrovsky saved. Radko Gudas cleared the puck from the blue paint, however it went off Owen Tippett's right skate and into the cage.    

     Staal would add an empty-net goal with 1:40 to go for his second goal of the contest and 12th of the campaign. Jesper Fast picked up another empty-net tally with 55.8 seconds left.