5 TAKEAWAYS: Duclair Scores in OT to Lead Panthers to Win in Carolina

In a battle between two of the top teams in the NHL, the Cats came out on top.
Pushing the Panthers back up into first place in the Atlantic Division, Anthony Duclair scored at 2:53 of overtime to cap off a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday.
Improving to 23-7-5 with the win, Florida also now currently sits atop the league's standings.

"A great game," Duclair said. "We were expecting that. A huge road win for the boys. [The Canes] are a great team. We know that. Playing against them last year, there were some good battles. We know exactly what to expect from them. … Not surprising that it went to extra time."
Matching a franchise record by finding the back of the net for the 15th straight regulation period, the Panthers took a 1-0 lead just 1:05 after the puck dropped when Jonathan Huberdeau took a pass from Duclair and snapped a blistering shot past Alex Lyon and into the twine from the slot.
On the power play, the Hurricanes evened things up when Teuvo Teravainen collected a pass from Tony DeAngelo, skated into the center of the left circle and ripped a shot - that appeared to catch a piece of a defender's stick - into the far-side corner of the net to make it 1-1 at 3:34.
Sent flying up the ice on a 2-on-1 break after a smooth little tap pass from Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe cruised down the left side of the ice, looked off Maxim Mamin and ripped a shot that trickled past Lyon and across the goal line to put the Cats back on top 2-1 at 17:40.
"When he gets flying like that like he did tonight, he's really dangerous and really hard to contain," Duclair said of Verhaeghe. "When he gets going like that, he's such a threat."
Carrying that momentum into and then out of the first intermission, Verhaeghe, known around the locker room as "Swaggy," garnered his second goal of the game when he skated into the left circle and buried a far-side snipe to push the lead to 3-1 just 35 seconds into the second period.
With that tally, the Cats set a new franchise record by scoring in 16 straight regulation periods.
"We played a strong game," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "A little lull here and there, but a really good road game. We haven't been particularly bad, but I don't know if we've brought our A-game a lot of nights on the road. For the most part, we did that tonight."
Getting one back for the Hurricanes following a faceoff win the offensive zone, Brady Skjei, who entered the matchup with three goals in his last four games, blasted a screaming one-timer past a screened Bobrovsky from just below the blue line to trim Florida's lead down to 3-2 at 14:14.
Catching the Panthers in a change early in the third period, Seth Jarvis tied the game for the Hurricanes when he zoomed down the right side of the ice and scored to make it 3-3 at 1:45.
With the game eventually getting to overtime, Duclair jumpstarted the game-winning sequence when he picked off a pass in the neutral zone. Giving the puck to Huberdeau, he then flew down the ice, got the puck back via a nifty saucer pass and scored from in front to lock in the 4-3 win.
In first place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 24-7-2, two of Carolina's nine losses this season have come against the Panthers, who also won their first meeting, 5-2, on Nov. 6.
"It's probably the most fun you can have as a hockey player, playing in important games against good competition," Duclair said of tonight's tight action. "It's no fun losing by a lot or blowing a team out by a lot. It gets the competitive juices flowing. Tonight was a good example of that."
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's overtime win in Raleigh…

1. MORE FOR HUBY

Huberdeau's case for a spot at the All-Star Game keeps on growing.
Extending his point streak to five games, the reigning "Third Star of the Week" opened the scoring for the Panthers when he finished off a rush by taking a pass from Duclair and firing a shot into the twine from the slot to make it a 1-0 game just over a minute into the first period.

Securing his fourth multi-point effort in his last five games, Huberdeau then added a clutch assist in overtime when he sauced a pass over a defender and right onto Duclair's stick in the low slot to set up the game-winning goal.
"Huby's such a special player," Duclair said. "One of the best playmakers in the league."
Getting on the scoresheet a lot in recent weeks, Huberdeau has recorded three goals and 10 assists over his last five games. Thanks to that very impressive surge in production, he's now also, at the time of this writing, sitting fourth in the NHL in points (46) and second in assists (33).
Per Panthers PR, Huberdeau has also matched the most points every by a player in a five-game span in franchise history.

2. SWAGGY SNIPES

Verhaeghe was a man on a mission tonight.
Firing off a team-high two shots on goal in the first period, the speedster gave the Panthers the lead heading into the first intermission when, after receiving a smooth tap pass from Barkov in stride, he flew into the zone and beat Lyon on a 2-on-1 break to make it a 2-1 game at 17:40.

Not done there, he buried a far-side snipe just 35 seconds into the second period to make it 3-1.
"Lately our line has been pretty good," said Verhaeghe, who skated with Barkov and Mamin. "We're pretty dangerous and getting a ton of chances. You saw in Dallas that we were getting chances, but just not getting rewarded. Tonight, we got rewarded a little bit better."

Moving up into third place on Florida's scoring leaderboard with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists), Verhaeghe has registered four points (two goals, two assists) over his last three games. Very active during his 17:49 of ice time against Carolina, he let loose a team-high five shots on goal.
"He's getting better each game," Brunette said. "I thought he played really well two nights ago [at Dallas] and should've got rewarded, and tonight he was rewarded. He sets a lot of the pace for us. For this team, he's very important."

3. DUKE DOES IT

Duclair clearly loves playing against Carolina.
After racking up a career-high four points (two goals, two assists) in Florida's first win over the Hurricanes this season on Nov. 6 in Sunrise, the dynamic forward sealed tonight's win when he took a saucer pass from Huberdeau, made a quick move, and scored midway through overtime.

"Duke made a great move on the goalie," Verhaeghe said. "He's been doing that all year."
He certainly has.
Tied for first on the Panthers with 14 goals, Duclair has found the back of the net five times over his last six games, including scoring a pair of game-winners. With his goal tonight, the Cats also became the first team in the league to have five different players score in overtime this season.
"We talked about it before the game -- two of the best teams in the league," Duclair said. "This was a huge confidence booster moving forward, especially on the road to come into their building and get the win. We're pretty happy with our effort and just want to keep that going."

4. BIG KILLS

The penalty kill came up big for the Panthers late in tonight's game.
With the action deadlocked at 3-3 throughout the majority of the third period, the Panthers killed off a pair of dangerous power plays, including one with less than four minutes left in regulation.
"Huge penalty kills there late in the game," Brunette said.
Even though the Hurricanes managed to bury one goal on the power play in the first period, the Panthers killed off the next three and only allowed a total of four shots on the PK all night long. In six games since coming out of the pause, Florida has gone 18-for-21 on the penalty kill.
"We had no passengers tonight," Brunette said. "I thought everybody came ready to play and to play hard."

5. HEADING HOME

After picking up three of four points on the road, the Cats are heading home.
Looking to build upon their outstanding 18-3-0 record in Sunrise, they'll kick off a three-game homestand with a matchup against the Canucks on Tuesday. After that, they'll wrap up their season series with the Stars on Friday, and then battle against the Blue Jackets on Saturday.
In 21 games at home, the Panthers have scored a league-high 93 goals.
"I thought we responded tonight," Verhaeghe said of brining some of that home cooking on the road. "Back home we definitely use the fans to our advantage there. They're awesome there and really cheer us on. Tonight, we grinded it out, got off to a good start and just kept rolling."
For tickets to upcoming homestand, visit
FloridaPanthers.com/Tickets
.