Four days after the Florida Panthers launched a memorable third-period comeback to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, the two clubs square off again on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes had built a 3-0 lead midway through the third period in last Friday’s game, but Florida equalized with three goals in the final 9:44 of regulation, and then won a shootout to claim the unlikely 4-3 victory.
Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, another three-goal lead disappeared the very next day. Carolina led the Tampa Bay Lightning by 3-0 and 4-3 scores on Saturday, but the Lightning twice went on three-goal runs to emerge with a 6-4 win.
“The last two games against two good teams and they’ve made us pay. They’ve made us look like an ugly hockey team,” said Carolina captain Jordan Staal.
“When we are up [three goals] like that, we’ve got to stay consistent, stay with it, and be hard to play against,” Staal said. “We got a little soft, we got … hoping it was just going to be a shootout. It ended up being a shootout, but in the wrong direction for us.”
The two blown leads came on the heels of a five-game winning streak for the Hurricanes. Friday’s win extended the Panthers’ winning streak to four games, but Florida is also looking to rebound from a late-game collapse in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.
A 2-2 game was broken open when Blues forward Justin Faulk scored in the final second of the second period. Faulk’s late dagger was the first of four unanswered St. Louis goals.
The Panthers were playing their seventh game in 11 days, with an impressive 5-2-0 record in that busy stretch. Both losses came in the second half of back-to-backs, as the Panthers dropped another 6-2 result to the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 11.
“Back-to-backs are not a problem. Everybody plays them, especially the ones that are at home,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s what stacks up around it and how hard you have to run the top end [players]. We’ve got a lot of miles on the top two lines and the top-four [defensemen]…It’s not one game, it’s cumulative.”
Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook and Florida forward Mackie Samoskevich are both questionable for Tuesday’s lineup due to lower-body injuries. Martinook has missed Carolina’s last two games, while Samoskevich didn’t play on Saturday.
Brad Marchand leads the Panthers in goals (20), assists (20) and points. The veteran forward has also accumulated nine points (four goals, five assists) during his ongoing five-game points streak.
Sebastian Aho leads the Hurricanes with 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists), while Shayne Gostisbehere leads the club with 23 assists and Seth Jarvis leads with 19 goals. Jarvis was placed on the injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury against Florida on Friday.
Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi stopped 38 of 41 Panthers shots on Friday, and will likely be back in net for the rematch. Friday’s game marked just the second time Bussi didn’t win over his 13 career NHL starts, as the rookie sensation is 11-1-1 with a 2.11 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
Sergei Bobrovsky is Florida’s probable starter in net. Despite a 15-8-1 record, Bobrovsky hasn’t been his usual elite self this season, with a modest 2.81 GAA and .888 save percentage.
-Field Level Media
