RECAP: Panthers 6, Hurricanes 0

SUNRISE, Fla. – Talk about an impressive 48 hours.

After earning a 6-3 win at Carolina on Friday, the Florida Panthers kept on rolling with a dominant 6-0 win over the Hurricanes in a rematch at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Stretching their winning streak to three games, the Panthers now sit at 15-9-1.

“We found a way to finally break it open,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Obviously, really proud of our team. We’re finding our identity again.”

In the first period, neither team touched the twine.

Stepping up big between the pipes for the Panthers, Spencer Knight made a pair of key saves in the opening 20 minutes to keep the game scoreless. First, it was a stoning Jack Drury on a shot from the doorstep. Later, it was robbing NHL points leader Martin Necas on a breakaway.

Earning his first shutout of the season, Knight finished the game with 20 saves.

“I honestly think that it took us a bit to get to our game, but something that we do really well is just try to get to that game,” Knight said. “We’re not trying to win the game in the first [period]. We try to win a series over seven games. We just stick to our system, structure.”

In the second period, the Panthers appeared to break the ice when Anton Lundell beat Spencer Martin on a shot from beyond the right circle. But after a challenge by Carolina, the goal came off the board when officials determined Florida had entered the zone offside.

Opening the scoring – for real this time – Ekblad, who’s been playing like a man possessed recently, put the Panthers on top when he took advantage of a disoriented Martin and fired a shot into the twine from near the half-wall to make it 1-0 at 6:42.

On the penalty kill, the Panthers held on to the lead thanks to an outstanding collective effort from Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. On the kill – which included three saves from Knight – all four skaters stood tall for the entire two minutes.

Earning their own power play after Andrei Svechnikov sent a puck over the boards, the Panthers doubled their lead when Mackie Samoskevich took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and powered a shot past Martin to make it 2-0 with less than a second left on the clock.

“He can get it to the net,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s a rocket pass, and he has no time. He has the hand strength and the hand skills just to finish that play.”

A strong second, the Panthers allowed just one shot on goal at 5-on-5 in the period.

Adding to the lead in the third period, Sam Bennett hopped out of the penalty box, skated down the slot, took a nifty feed from Eetu Luostarinen and scored to make it 3-0 at 8:19.

Getting things started on the goal, Lundell forced a turnover in Carolina’s zone.

“The whole game we stuck to our game plan,” Bennett said.

Keeping their foot on the gas, the Panthers then lit the lamp twice in 11 seconds.

After Barkov tapped in a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Tkachuk on the power play to make it 4-0 at 11:37, Adam Boqvist beat Martin with a backhand shot off the rush to make it 5-0 at 11:48 with his first goal as a member of the Panthers.

Following that goal, rookie Yaniv Perets replaced Martin in Carolina’s net.

Not letting Perets, who was appearing in just his second NHL game, get settled in, the Panthers continued to pepper the opposing net and were rewarded again when Evan Rodrigues tipped in a point shot from Nate Schmidt on the power play to make it 6-0 at 13:01.

Giving up almost nothing, the Panthers allowed just two shots on goal in the third period.

“I thought as each period went on, we got kind of stronger and back to it,” Maurice said. “Some good shot blocks, some hard things we did. The penalty kill was especially good. Spencer was really, really strong, and then the power play kind of changes the game.”

THEY SAID IT

“Our entire game is a better at a certain emotional level, and he’s a driver of that.” – Paul Maurice on Matthew Tkachuk’s impact

“It’s nice that the pucks are going in, but the structure in which we play in that gives us those opportunities.” – Aaron Ekblad on Florida’s strong third period

“Samo’s great. I saw it all last year. He’s such a tremendous talent.” – Spencer Knight on Mackie Samoskevich

CATS STATS

- Mackie Samoskevich is the fourth player to score a goal in the final second of any period this season in the NHL.

- Aleksander Barkov tallied his 146th power-play assist and tied Jonathan Huberdeau for the most in franchise history.

- Sam Bennett has scored in three straight games.

- Aaron Ekblad netted the 25^th game-winning goal of his career.

- Spencer Knight posted the fourth shutout of his career.

- Thirteen different Panthers recorded at least one point.

- A.J. Greer racked up a team-high seven hits.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will now take their three-game winning streak on the road.

Kicking off a two-game trek, they’ll face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

To find a place to watch the action, visit FloridaPanthers.com/CatsOnTap.