Panthers score 6 again, blank Hurricanes for home-and-home sweep

SUNRISE -- The Florida Panthers scored four goals in the third period to pull away from the Carolina Hurricanes for the second straight day, 6-0 at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

“It was good. The first was tight, but as each period went on, I thought we got stronger,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

The Panthers, who defeated the Hurricanes 6-3 in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, completed the home-and-home sweep.

Spencer Knight made 20 saves for his first shutout of the season and his fourth in the NHL.

“We just love to play for each other,” Knight said. “If someone makes a mistake, we just pick them up and keep moving forward. That’s the kind of love we have in this room, and I think that allows us to play really hard and really free.”

Sam Bennett scored in his third straight game, and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist for Florida (15-9-1), which scored three goals in a 1:24 span in the third and has won three in a row. Matthew Tkachuk had two assists.

Spencer Martin allowed five goals on 28 shots for Carolina (16-7-1). Yaniv Perets stopped six of seven shots in relief after replacing Martin midway through the third.

“We have to shelf this one. The games keep coming,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Turn the page. We are always focusing on the next day and you learn from it. This is good. We have to take our medicine here; knock us down a few notches and get regrouped, start again. We have a great team, we know that. When you don’t play as a team, don’t do the little things, this is what happens.’’

Aaron Ekblad gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 6:42 of the second period. After a scramble at the net, Ekblad scored on a sharp-angled wrist shot over Martin, who was still on the ice struggling to get back up on his skates.

It was Ekblad’s first regular-season goal since scoring against the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 20, 2024.

“Obviously it is nice that pucks are going in,’’ said Ekblad, who had two assists in Friday’s win at Carolina. “But it is our structure and how we play that gives us those opportunities.”

Mackie Samoskevich made it 2-0 in the final second of the second period with a power-play goal. Barkov sent a sharp pass from the top of the left circle to Tkachuk on the right side of the goal post. Tkachuk then sent the puck across the goalmouth to a waiting Samoskevich, who knocked it into the open net.

“That was a rocket pass, he had no time but has the hand strength and skills to finish that,” Maurice said. “Real good spot for him.”

Bennett extended it to 3-0 at 8:19 of the third. Anton Lundell forced a turnover in the Carolina zone and got it to Eetu Luostarinen, who drove in and sent a cross-ice pass to Bennett for his 12th goal of the season.

Florida then scored three goals in a span of 1:24 to push it to 6-0.

“It was fairly even, then we were behind, and never really got going from there,” Brind’Amour said. “It was fairly even after two, but it fell apart on us in the third.’’

Barkov made it 4-0 at 11:37 with a power-play goal on a cross-ice pass from Tkachuk. Adam Boqvist then scored his first goal with the Panthers 11 seconds later, driving in and beating Martin on the backhand off the rush to extend it to 5-0.

Evan Rodrigues scored on the power play to make it 6-0 at 13:01 after deflecting a point shot from Nate Schmidt past Perets.

“Obviously, we got beat in every aspect. There was not a whole lot of positive out there,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of breaking the puck out, moving the puck forward, and playing in their end.’’

NOTES: The shutout was Knight’s first since Nov. 9, 2022, when he made 40 saves in a 3-0 win against the Hurricanes. He spent all of last season playing for Florida’s American Hockey League affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. … Samoskevich became the fourth player in the NHL this season to score a goal in the final second of a period, joining Noah Hanifin (second period, Nov. 2), Rasmus Dahlin (third period, Nov. 23), and Rickard Rakell (second period, Nov. 29). … Barkov recorded his 146th career power-play assist, tying Jonathan Huberdeau for most in franchise history.