The Florida Panthers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime on Wednesday night. The Panthers got off to a rough start and were down 2-0 at the end of the 1st period. But, Florida would later come back, taking the game into overtime. Jonathan Huberdeau would end up scoring the game winner, to seal the deal for Florida.
Game Recap
Carolina dominated throughout the first period. Jordan Staal scored the games first goal, 18 minutes into the frame. Less than a minute later, Sebastian Aho would score to give the Canes an early 2-0 lead.
Florida went into the second period looking to get their first goal of the game. Ten minutes in, Jonathan Huberdeau scored on a puck assisted by Keith Yandle and Chris Driedger.
The Panthers entered the 3rd period down 2-1. Three minutes in, Alex Wennberg scored his first goal of the season to tie the game at two. Nine minutes later, Juho Lammiko scored his first career NHL goal to put the Panthers in front 3-2. However, less than a minute later, former Panther Vincent Trocheck scored on a Hurricanes power play to tie things up again, which forced overtime.
In OT, Jonathan Huberdeau would score his second goal of the game, to win it for the Panthers 4-3.
Huberdeau: “I felt like, being down 2-0, it was a big response by us. After the first period, we just came back in the room, we didn’t panic and we came back to our structure… A big team win and a huge two points for us.”
Takeways
The Panthers improve to 10-2-2, while the Canes fall to 10-3-1. The Panthers now hold first place in the Central Division, a quarter of the way through the schedule. Even cooler, the Panthers handed the Hurricanes their first home loss of the season. Florida did the same for the Tampa Bay Lightning a few days ago.
Next Up
The Florida Panthers will head to Detroit, to face the Red Wings for the next two games (2/19 at 7:00 PM, and 2/20 at 5:00 PM).