SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jaccob Slavin scored the go-ahead goal to lift the Carolina Hurricanes over the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Thursday night.
Florida's Anton Lundell tied it at the beginning of the second before Slavin got one past Sergei Bobrovsky with about seven minutes left in the third.
Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves, and Slavin also had an assist. Martin Necas added an empty-netter.
Brent Burns gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game with a shot that bounced off Florida's Aleksander Barkov and into the net. Bobrovsky stopped 37 shots.
It was the last matchup of the regular season between the two teams. Florida swept a home-and-home set earlier this season, beating the Hurricanes 6-3 on Nov. 29 and 6-0 on Nov. 30.
Takeaways
Hurricanes: Weren't able to cash in on their many chances in the first period to build on their early lead. They had 16 shots on goal compared to Florida's six in the opening frame. Kochetkov made some big-time saves to keep his team in it.
Panthers: Bobrovsky was nearly perfect after Burns' early shot got past him, but the Panthers missed on too many opportunities down the stretch to capitalize on his stellar performance.
Key moment
Bobrovsky pleaded with the official that the play should have been blown dead on Slavin's go-ahead goal because the goalie was pinned in the crease. It was upheld after the referee said Florida's Matthew Tkachuk wouldn’t let Jesperi Kotkaniemi up out of the crease after he collided with Bobrovsky.
Key stat
Bobrovsky played in his 269th career game for Florida, which is the second-most all time for a Panthers goaltender.
Up next
The Hurricanes host Minnesota on Saturday, while the Panthers remain home against Pittsburgh on Friday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
