Duclair, Panthers hand Hurricanes first loss, fall one short of record

SUNRISE, Fla. --The Carolina Hurricanes fell one win short of tying the NHL record when they lost for the first time this season, 5-2 against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.

Carolina had won its first nine games and was seeking to tie the longest season-opening winning streak, held by the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres and 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs, who each started 10-0-0.
"9-1 is a great start," Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. "It's definitely a good start and gets us going in the right direction. It wasn't the start that we wanted tonight and some of that comes from hard work and just not being prepared right away."
Anthony Duclair had two goals and two assists for the Panthers (10-0-1), who are the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss, and are one game from matching their longest point streak to start a season (8-0-4 in 1996-97).
Florida's 11-game point streak is the longest to start a season in the NHL since the Chicago Blackhawks started 21-0-3 in 2012-13.
This was the first game in NHL history between teams with active season-opening point streaks of nine or more games.
"I don't really think it's a statement game," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "There is [no such thing] in November. They don't present trophies in November. It was a good test for our group and they responded to the challenge. We brought our A-game."
Florida scored three power-play goals to take a 4-0 lead in the first period before the Hurricanes responded with two goals in the second.
"We could have maybe even won this game," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I would still be irate at the way we played. You can't have five guys come to play. We just weren't sharp. Good for them. They played a hard game, they did what they needed to that. We certainly didn't."

Duclair scored for a 1-0 lead at 2:28 before Frank Vatrano made it 2-0 at 10:02 with each goal coming on the power play. Anton Lundell made it 3-0 at 13:14, and Patric Hornqvist scored with the man advantage at 15:28 for a 4-0 lead.
"The power play, it wasn't pretty," Brunette said. "Very opportunistic. Still some work for us to do there. I think we can get a lot smoother in a lot of different areas there."
Frederik Andersen was pulled after he allowed four goals on 15 shots in the first period but returned at 12:22 of the second when Antti Raanta (four saves) sustained an upper-body injury. Raanta collided with Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg, who was given a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. Andersen finished with 24 saves.
Jesper Fast scored to make it 4-1 at 7:01 of the second period before Vincent Trocheck made it 4-2 with the Hurricanes on a five-minute power play.
"You know this team never quits, that's always good," Trocheck said. "But it's a 60-minute game, not 40. We've got to come out a little better than we did."

Spencer Knight made 29 saves for the Panthers, who were without goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (upper body) and forward Aleksander Barkov (lower body).
"I think we all wanted to step up for him," Duclair said of Barkov. "I think we showed a lot of resiliency and a lot of depth tonight."
Duclair scored an empty-net goal at 19:01 for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: Brind'Amour said after the game that Raanta "looked OK." … Barkov is day to day and will be reevaluated Sunday. … Knight is 8-0-1 in the regular season in the NHL, tying Ken Dryden for the fourth-longest point streak by a goalie to start his career. Bill Durnan holds the record with 14 when he began the 1942-43 season 11-0-0, with three ties for the Montreal Canadiens. … Carolina was 6-0-2 against Florida last season. … Trocheck had a goal and an assist, giving him 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in nine games against the Panthers, with whom he played from 2013 until he was traded to Carolina on Feb. 24, 2020. … Florida tied its record with four first-period goals, accomplishing the feat for the 20th time. … The Panthers set their record for fewest games needed to reach 10 wins in a season; the previous mark was 14 games in 1995-96 and 2020-21.