Florida Panthers Roll Hurricanes 6-0, Look Like Themselves Again

“We’re comfortable in tie-games,” Ekblad said. “We found a way to finally break it open. Obviously, I’m really proud of our team. We’re finding our identity.”

The Florida Panthers looked dominant in every sense of the word on Saturday afternoon, rolling the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-0, to sweep a two-game home-and-home set.

Florida has quickly turned it around since dropping six of seven games, winning three consecutive games against two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and reclaiming its throne atop the Atlantic Division.

As per usual, it was a team effort.

“It was good. The first [period] was tight, and then I thought we got, as each period went on, stronger and back to it,” coach Paul Maurice said. “We had some good shot blocks tonight…the penalty kill was especially good. Spencer was really, really strong.”

Aaron Ekblad scored his first goal of the year and played 23:19 of shutdown defense alongside Gustav Forsling, Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov each had a pair of points, the penalty kill was a clean 2-for-2, the power play was 3-for-6, and Spencer Knight made 20 saves in his first NHL shutout since November of 2022.

For Tkachuk, that two-point night was just his third since the Panthers began their long slog of a losing skid on Nov. 12.

Florida needed it from him.

“Our entire game is better at a certain emotional level and he’s the driver of that,” Maurice said. “All of [the team] really, but Matthew brings an intensity to the game every night and he’s wired into it. He’s not faking it, that’s the way he is when the puck drops. That’s infectious.”

After struggling to find their emotional level during that rough stretch of games, the Panthers have come out of it looking like themselves.

They had to fight a little harder for this one than the 6-0 score line suggests, too.

The game was deadlocked at 0-0 until Anton Lundell appeared to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but the goal was taken off the board after a successful offside challenge from Carolina.

Florida answered back within minutes, with Ekblad sending a wrist shot from the perimeter past a downed Spencer Martin 6:42 into the period to officially give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

“We’re comfortable in tie-games,” Ekblad said. “We found a way to finally break it open. Obviously, I’m really proud of our team. We’re finding our identity.”

Carolina kept it tight for the rest of the period before Mackie Samoskevich potted in a feed from Tkachuk at the buzzer to send the Panthers into the second intermission with a two-goal lead.

Then the rout began.

Sam Bennett planted the seeds for it 8:19 into the third, when Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen pressed up on the forecheck to force a turnover before finding Bennett streaking out of the penalty box and into the slot. He wired home his third goal in as many games to make it a 3-0 game.

Then the wheels fell off for Carolina.

Aleksander Barkov tapped in a Tkachuk feed on the power play for the first of three goals in an 84-second span with 8:23 to go. Adam Boqvist followed it up with his first goal of the year 11 seconds later before Evan Rodrigues deflected a Nate Schmidt shot on the power play 1:13 after that.

Martin was chased out of the game after the fifth goal and Yaniv Perets stopped six of seven shots in mop-up duty after that.

Florida remains a point ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division after the Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night.

“Throughout the whole game we stuck to our game plan,” Bennett said. “That was getting on the forecheck, being physical, getting pucks to the net. Obviously, Knight stood on his head and made some great saves today to keep the game tied. Once we started to get a couple, they started going in.”

The Panthers will begin a two-game road trip in Pennsylvania on Tuesday when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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