On the power play early in the first period, Stefan Noesen broke the ice for the Hurricanes when he followed up on a shot from Sebastian Aho, pounced on a rebound near the crease and fired the puck into the cage to make it 1-0 at 7:05.
Doubling the lead for the Hurricanes in the second period, Andrei Svechnikov netted his team-high 19th goal of the season when he beat Spencer Knight with a laser from the left circle on the power play to make it 2-0 at 4:58.
Staying hot with the extra attacker, the Hurricanes added a third goal on the power play when Seth Jarvis sent a no-look pass through the slot right onto the stick of Teuvo Teravainen for a goal from the right doorstep to make it 3-0 at 11:55.
Carolina finished 3-for-5 on the power play; Florida went 0-for-6.
"Both were subpar, to say the least," Maurice said of the penalty kill and power play.
Nearly netting another goal on the power play, the Hurricanes padded their lead even further when Jesperi Kotkaniemi took a pass from Brett Pesce and picked a corner from the slot moments after the man advantage expired to make it 4-0 at 3:50 of the third period.
Stopping all 19 shots he faced, Antti Raanta recorded his second straight shutout for Carolina.
"In the second I thought we battled back, but in the third we just couldn't connect to capitalize," Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas said. "You've got learn from it. We've got to be better and turn things around. We've got the next game in two days."
"Staying with it. Stay out of the box. Be prepared for every game. Play every period like we did in the second period today. If we do those things, we're going to be good." - Radko Gudas on the road ahead
"I think special teams obviously played a pretty large role. They were good. We need to be better in that area, and tonight was a tough night for us. We'll look at it, get better and look forward to the next game." - Eric Staal on the special teams battle
- Spencer Knight stopped 24 of 25 shots at even strength.
- Radko Gudas recorded a team-high five hits.
- The Panthers registered a season-low 19 shots on goal.
- Florida had 2.62 expected goals, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
The Panthers (16-17-4) will open up the 2023 portion of their schedule with an important matchup against the New York Rangers (19-12-6) at FLA Live Arena on Sunday on 5 p.m. ET.
