Slavin goal in 3rd sparks Hurricanes past Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jaccob Slavin broke a tie with 7:30 remaining in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Slavin’s goal came after a pileup in the Panthers net. Carolina center Jesperi Kotkaniemi slid into Sergei Bobrovsky, and Kotkaniemi appeared to subsequently make contact with the Florida goalie while Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk was on top of Kotkaniemi in the crease just before Slavin’s shot off a rebound went in from the left circle.

Officials ruled there was no goaltender interference because Tkachuk prevented Kotkaniemi from getting off the ice and away from Bobrovsky.

“I just saw the puck kind of come out and I guess that’s how I have to score -- having the goalie down on the ice,” Slavin said. “I will take it. [Kotkaniemi] went hard to the net, and that’s what you have to do there.”

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “We fell into the goalie, but then can’t get out. If the first shot goes in, maybe that doesn’t count. But there was plenty of time for, one, to let him out, and two, get set. It was the right call, obviously, because they didn’t even challenge it. It may have been the break we needed.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice said he did not challenge the call on the ice because referee Kyle Rehman announced that it was a good goal due to Tkachuk being on top of Kotkaniemi.

“There was no point in a challenge,” Maurice said.

Slavin added an assist, and Brent Burns and Martin Necas also scored for the Hurricanes (23-13-2), who had lost eight of their previous nine on the road (1-6-2). Pyotr Kochetkov made 25 saves.

“We played really well and that was big because we already lost two games to this team,” Kochetkov said of Florida sweeping a back-to-back against Carolina on Nov. 29-30, outscoring the Hurricanes 12-3. “We knew we needed a little answer. … The whole team did a great job today.”

Anton Lundell scored for the Panthers (23-14-2), who have lost three of four. Bobrovsky made 37 saves.

Burns gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game. His shot from the right boards hit Aleksander Barkov as the Florida center skated toward the net, and the puck went over the left shoulder of Bobrovsky.

The Hurricanes outshot the Panthers 16-6 in the first period.

Florida tied it 1-1 at 2:17 of the second period. Jesper Boqvist sent a pass from the right circle to a wide-open Lundell in the slot. Lundell froze Kochetkov with a forehand move before working the puck to his backhand and flipping it over the goalie’s shoulder.

“We weren’t ready to play hockey at the start,” Maurice said. “Historically, Carolina will either start fast or have a 10-minute block where they throw a lot at the net. They did that, and then we righted the ship. It was a really good hockey game. After [the start] I liked how we played, how we generated. We got it back to a solid game.”

After Slavin broke the tie, Necas made it 3-1 by deflecting a shot into an empty net at 19:32 of the third.

“Our first period was really good. [We] probably should have been up by more than one just the way we were playing,” Brind’Amour said. “You knew they would have their push. They’re too good. And they did. But I thought we stuck with it. We had a couple big saves, which we need, right? That’s the crucial part. Kept us in the game.”

NOTES: Bobrovsky played his 269th game with the Panthers, passing John Vanbiesbrouck for second in their history among goalies. Roberto Luongo is the leader with 572. Bobrovsky is 158-79-19 with Florida (265 starts). … Hurricanes forward Juha Jaaska played 8:21 and was 4-for-5 on face-offs in his NHL debut. He was called up from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and replaced center Tyson Jost (lower body), who left a 4-3 shootout loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.