RECAP: Hurricanes 3, Panthers 1

SUNRISE, Fla. – Despite a stellar showing from Sergei Bobrovsky, the Florida Panthers suffered a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Finishing with 37 saves, Bobrovsky made seven high-danger stops.

With the loss, Florida now sits at 23-14-2.

“Bob had an unreal game,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said.

On the first shift of the game, the Hurricanes broke the ice when Brent Burns fired a shot that went off a defender and into the net to make it 1-0 just 35 seconds into the first period.

Keeping the Hurricanes from doubling their lead later in the period, Bobrovsky quickly kicked out his left pad to deny Jack Roslovic on a point-blank chance from in close.

Flying out of the gate, Carolina led 16-6 in shots on goal in the first period.

“Didn’t like our start, but I think we really got into the game in the second and third periods,” Forsling said.

Ramping up their forecheck early in the second period, the Panthers evened the score when Evan Rodrigues forced a turnover, which then led to Jesper Boqvist setting up Anton Lundell for a nifty backhand goal on Pyotr Kochetkov from the slot to make it 1-1 at 2:17.

A great response, the Panthers led 7-1 in high-danger shot attempts in the second period.

“If you take that first 10-15 minutes away, I think we played a pretty good game,” Lundell said. “Bob (Bobrovsky) kept us in the game in the start.”

Unfortunately, a tight game turned into a controversial one in the third period.

Flying into the offensive zone, Jesperi Kotkaniemi lost his footing and flew feet first into Florida’s net, violently crashing into Bobrovsky and sending him into the back of the cage.

Assuming the whistle would be blown after such an incident, Matthew Tkachuk pinned Kotkaniemi down in the blue paint as a response to what had happened to his goaltender.

Yet, for some reason, no whistle was blown.

With play continuing and now three bodies in the crease – and with Bobrovsky’s stick also still laying on the ice – Jaccob Slavin scored to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 12:30.

Locking it up for Carolina, Martin Necas made it 3-1 with an empty-netter at 19:32.

Over the final 40 minutes, the Panthers led 26-14 in scoring chances.

“I thought about halfway through the first period we got back to a pretty good game,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

THEY SAID IT

“It was a weird goal they got, and we weren’t able to get one back.” – Anton Lundell on Carolina’s game-winning goal

“We didn’t love our start. We’ve got a chance to improve it tomorrow and come out ready to play.” – Gustav Forsling on facing the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday

CATS STATS

- Anton Lundell won a team-high 11 face-offs.

- A.J. Greer recorded a team-high six hits.

- The Panthers led 14-9 in 5-on-5 shot attempts when Carter Verhaeghe was deployed.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves in the first period.

- The Panthers held Carolina to eight shots on goal in the third period.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers are going to get right back on the horse.

Back on the ice in less than 24 hours, they’ll host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.