Recap: Slavin's Late Strike Lifts Canes Past Cats

SUNRISE, Fla. - Brent Burns scored in the opening minute of play, Jaccob Slavin found twine in the final frame and Pyotr Kochetkov made 26 saves as the Carolina Hurricanes knocked off the Florida Panthers 3-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

GAME SUMMARY | BOX SCORE | UPCOMING HOME GAMES

A dominant opening stanza saw the Canes outshoot the Cats 16-6 but exit the frame with just a one-goal lead, courtesy of Burns' wrister from range just 35 seconds into the contest. Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky was stout between the pipes in the first period and continued to stymie Carolina in the second, allowing his team to knot the score heading into the final 20 minutes.

The game remained deadlocked through the first 12 minutes of the third before Slavin capitalized on some chaos in front of the net. After Jesperi Kotkaniemi was spilled on a breakaway bid and held down in the crease by Matthew Tkachuk, the puck found Slavin in the left circle and he fired past a scrambling Bobrovsky for the eventual game-winner.

Carolina snuffed out any late comeback bid with an empty-net marker from Martin Necas in the waning moments of action.

Stats & Standouts

• After posting a pair of unspectacular showings against Florida to cap off November, the Canes put together a largely dominant effort on Thursday, outshooting the Panthers 40-26 after scoring the game's first goal for just the second time in their last seven contests.
• Pyotr Kochetkov had the lighter workload of the two netminders tonight in terms of shot total but was impressive when called upon, turning aside a hefty 10 of 11 high-danger chances (per Natural Stat Trick).
• Welcome to The National, Juha Jaaska! The 26-year-old skated 8:21 in his NHL debut, recording three hits and winning four of his five faceoffs.
• While Jaaska skated in game #1, Martin Necas appeared in his 400th career contest. Carolina's first-round pick in 2017, Necas marked the occasion with an empty-net goal and leads the team with 46 points in 38 games this season.
• With an assist on Necas' goal, Andrei Svechnikov picked up his 200th career helper. The Russian sniper boasts 343 points in 444 career outings.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour on what allowed his team to get the win...

"The start. Our first period was really good. We probably should've been up by more than one with the way we were playing. You knew they were going to have their push, they're too good. They got back into the game. I thought we stuck with it. Obviously, we had a couple of big saves, which we needed. That's the crucial part. (Pyotr Kochetkov) kept us in the game there and we got the go-ahead goal. Overall, I thought it was a solid 60-minute game, which we've played the last little stretch here. We just haven't been getting that one play here or there to push us over the top and tonight we did."

Jaccob Slavin echoing similar sentiments...

"I think we were ready to go from the start. We knew that they're an unbelievable team and we knew we had to bring our best. Everyone worked hard, Koochie played unbelievable, and top to bottom everyone was working and contributing tonight. That's what got us over the top there."

Pyotr Kochetkov sharing his thoughts on the victory...

"Today we played very well. We needed a win today because we'd lost two games to this team. We just needed an answer because two losses to them, 3-2 and 6-0, was bad for us. Today the whole team showed some personality and it was a great job today."

What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to be off on Friday before starting a weekend back-to-back set at Lenovo Center, where they'll welcome the Wild on Saturday and the Penguins on Sunday.

Next Game: Saturday, Jan. 4 vs. Minnesota | 7:00 pm | Tickets | Parking | Upcoming Theme Nights