Hurricanes clinch Metropolitan Division with win against Panthers

The Carolina Hurricanes clinched the Metropolitan Division with a 6-4 win against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Thursday.

It was the regular-season finale for each team.
Brent Burns scored twice for the Hurricanes (52-21-9), who will face the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Frederik Andersen made 30 saves.
"The guys we've got in that room, they're as honest as they come and they go out there and the earn their way every night," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "And that's what you see. That's the way we have to get it done top to bottom, doesn't matter who it is. They just come to play.
"I'm proud of the group. Honestly, it's kind of neat. I mean, that's a big accomplishment. Eighty-two games, to be the best in the division in the division we're in, that says a lot. But it's not what we are about. It's not what we came to do. We've got bigger things that we obviously want to accomplish."

Aleksander Barkov scored, and Alex Lyon made 30 saves for the Panthers (42-32-8), who had their seven-game point streak end (6-0-1) and finished as the second wild card in the East, one point behind the Islanders.
Florida will face the Boston Bruins in the first round.
"We had a lot of fight but made mistakes, which will not be allowed or acceptable in the playoffs," Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "We had to be patient in a game like that and it got away from us in a few shifts. They capitalized. [They're] a good team and the top team in their division. But the fight in the third shows how we fought all year, especially in the second half."
Burns and Jesper Fast scored 21 seconds apart in the third period after the Panthers erased a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the first 3:33 of the period.
Burns gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 6:07 with a shot from the point through traffic. Fast made it 4-2 at 6:28, and Gostisbehere scored an empty-net goal at 17:20 to give the Hurricanes a 5-2 lead.
Burns, a 38-year-old defenseman, finished the regular season with 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists) in 82 games after being acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks last summer.
"I don't know where we'd be without him, to be honest," Brind'Amour said of Burns. "Our [defensemen] are special back there. And the amount of pressure we put on him to perform in every aspect of the game, and this guy is better than advertised or as good or whatever. And a real pleasure to be around and have him with our group."

Anthony Duclair cut it to 5-3 at 17:58 before Carter Verhaeghe made it 5-4 at 18:36.
"We've shown that for a couple years now; we never give up no matter what the score is," Duclair said. "It's nice to see that even in Game 82, we've still got that fight. We're gearing up for the playoffs here. We're not taking anything for granted."
Sebastian Aho scored another empty-net goal for Carolina at 19:00 for the 6-4 final.
The Hurricanes led 2-0 before Barkov made it 2-1 at 1:14 of the third with a shot from the left circle after taking a drop pass from Sam Reinhart.
Ryan Lomberg tied it 2-2 at 3:33 when he one-timed Radko Gudas' pass from behind the net after he stole the puck from Andersen.
"It got a little crazy," Brind'Amour said. "It's never easy for the group, that's for sure. We had a couple of bad bounces, obviously. We had played a pretty good game, and then all of a sudden a couple of weird things happened and all of a sudden it was a game. But I love how the guys just went about their business and restored the lead and played pretty solidly. The end was a little weird, but for the most part it was a [heck] of an effort."

Burns gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 8:21 of the first period when his shot from the point deflected off Verhaeghe.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi made it 2-0 at 1:12 of the second period. After a turnover in the Panthers zone, Kotkaniemi's shot went off Verhaeghe's stick and floated past Lyon.
"We knew that the game in general was going to have a playoff feel," Gostisbehere said. "There was a lot on the line there. Obviously, you don't want to start [the third] period like that; you're up two goals and it's 2-2, but timely timeout and we regrouped and got [our] stuff together and we finished off strong."
NOTES: Carolina became the third team since 2013 to win three consecutive division titles, joining the Anaheim Ducks and Washington Capitals, who each won four in a row. … Burns became the first defenseman since Scott Niedermayer in 2005-06 to reach 60 points in his first season with a team. … Gudas had three assists. … Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour's seven-game point streak ended (12 points; three goals, nine assists).