SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brent Burns scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes scored 4 instances within the third interval to beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 on Thursday evening to win the Metropolitan Division.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jesper Quick, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho additionally scored for the Hurricanes, who started the evening one level forward of New Jersey atop the division. Frederick Andersen completed with 31 saves.
Carolina will open the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in opposition to the New York Islanders.
Aleksander Barkov, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaege scored for Florida, which started the evening one level behind the Islnders for the highest wild card within the Jap Convention. Alex Lyon had 30 saves.
The Panthers will face league-best Boston within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Florida, which had scored two early targets within the third to tie the rating and got here inside a aim within the closing 90 seconds, ended up falling in need of incomes the highest wild-card spot within the Jap Convention and can now open the playoffs in opposition to the top-seeded Boston Bruins.
The Panthers got here into the evening on a seven-game level streak (6-0-1) however discovered themselves down 2-0 going into the third interval.
Burns opened the scoring 8:21 into the primary interval with an extended shot from contained in the blue line earlier than Kotkaniemi gave Carolina a 2-0 lead 1:12 into the second.
The Panthers got here out quick within the third interval, with Barkov scoring at 1:14 with Lomberg tying issues at 2 simply over two minutes later.
The Hurricanes rapidly took their two-goal lead again as Burns scored at 6:07 with Quick placing a rebound previous Lyon at 6:28.
After an empty internet aim from Gostishere with 2:40 remaining, the Panthers scored a pair of fast targets (once more, with the online empty) as Duclair acquired his second of the season and Verhaege recorded his forty second.
With a minute left, nevertheless, Aho put the ending touches with Carolina’s second empty-net aim of the evening.
NOTEWORTHY
The Panthers signed two of their high prospects this week. C Mackie Samoskevich, their first-round choice in 2021, left the College of Michigan after his sophomore season and joined Florida’s AHL workforce in Charlotte. D Mike Benning, the MVP of the 2022 Frozen 4 with the College of Denver, signed his entry-level contract and joined the Panthers on Thursday. Benning took half in Florida’s morning skate however didn’t play in opposition to the Hurricanes.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: In opposition to the New York Islanders within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Panthers: In opposition to Boston within the first spherical of the playoffs.
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