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| Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers - pregame - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC |
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Game Notes:
The Carolina Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday.
The last time they met, the Panthers handed the Hurricanes a 5-1 loss to open the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season.
Although they are tied for first place in the Southeast Division with a 10-8-1 record, the Hurricanes are currently winless against division opponents.
After losing three straight, the Hurricanes have won two out of their last three games, most recently beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 on Thursday.
The Panthers are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres and sit in fourth place in the Southeast.
Puck drop in 10 minutes
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Starting lineups:
Carolina: Jamie McBain, Joni Pitkanen, Eric Staal, Jiri Tlusty, Alexander Semin, Cam Ward (G)
Florida: Stephen Weiss, Filip Kuba, Scottie Upshall, Erik Gudbranson, Tomas Kopecky, Jose Theodore (G)
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First Period:
- Both teams skate end to end after the opening faceoff
- After Florida finishes a sequence in the Hurricanes' end Jussi Jokinen gets a shot on Jose Theodore who goes down awkwardly on his knees as the play is whistled down as a result of a Panthers penalty call
- Scott Clemmensen comes in for Theodore who is escorted off the ice
- Carolina starts its first power play and test the new Panthers keeper with three shots on net, but he turns all of them away
- Riley Nash works the puck out of the corner and Jussi Jokinen lets a shot go from the lest faceoff dot that beats the veteran goalie to give Carolina a 1-0 lead with 13:37 to play
- On a line change, Jordan Staal dumps it into the Florida zone and as the puck comes along the boards to Clemmensen's left, Alexander Semin finds Jiri Tlusty in the slot and he one-times a shot to give Carolina a 2-0 lead
- The Hurricanes aren't not done yet as Jokinen scores his second of the period on a feed into the slot from Nash after he chased it down along the boards by the hash marks
- Carolina leads 3-0 and is outshooting Florida 11-2 with 10:19 to play
- Hurricanes continue to control the pace of play and the Panthers are just trying to keep up
- Clemmensen's staying sharp with back-to-back saves on JStaal on one sequence and then on a rocket from Semin
- Hurricanes work line of Westgarth, Bowman, and Wallace almost get a puck past Clemmensen, but Wesstgarth can't get a stick on Bowman's pass across the crease
- Carolina putting out different combinations of players as Florida looks to be making adjustments
- JStaal powers down the right wing and backhands
- Shawn Matthias gets Florida on the board with an effort to outskate and outwork Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk from behind the net and taking a shot on Ward that makes it to the back of the net - 3-1 Carolina lead now with 2:19 to play
- Eric Staal gains the zone along the right boards, but can't get a shot of as time in the period runs down
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Second Period:
- Florida comes out hard and fast and try to jam the puck past Ward, but the Carolina netminder stands his ground
- Definitely a different Florida team competing for pucks out there right now - Carolina hasn't broken into the Florida zone yet with 18 minutes to play
- Nash toe drags the puck coming past the faceoff circle as Panthers defenseman Tyson Strachan slides by and hits the post past Clemmensen
- Carolina's work line gets some more TOI and Wallace gets his stick on the puck and tips it towards the Florida net
- Kulikov is injured while trying to clear the puck for Florida and he skates off during the stoppage in play
- Riley Nash picks up the puck from his zone, passes to Jokinen and he gets it pack and breaks into the Panthers zone with Dwyer to his right
- Dwyer gets the puck from Nash and gives it back to him as he's skating hard to the net and he scores his first NHL goal and crashes into the end boards as a result of losing an edge
- He gets up to celebrate the goal, but is visibly shaken and goes to the dressing room - Carolina leads 4-1 now with 14:38 to play
- JStaal- Skinner-LaRose have a good sequence hovering in the corners and in front of Clemmensen, but come up with nothing
- Dwyer-Nash-Jokinen now out there and doing the same
- Semin-EStaal-Tlusty get their run before the work line is back out there with Wallace feeding the point and Bowman and Westgarth waiting in the slot for the point shot
- Carolina keeping the pressure up now as Carolina outshooting Florida 5-3 at this point
- Eric Staal gets the pass from the right point from Semin and he pulls the puck from his forehand, slides it across the crease with his backhand to score into a wide-open net as Panthers defenseman Strachan and Clemmensen can only look on - Carolina lead is now 5-1 with 6:57 to play
- Carolina starts on the power play, but Florida effectively killing off the first minute of it
- Matthias tries to pull the puck from behind and shoos it towards an open net, but Ward gets back in to stop the shot
- On the next shift, the Panthers continue to apply the pressure around Ward's net after George Parros hits Jordan Staal
- Marcel Goc works the puck from behind the goal to Filip Kuba who pinches and beats Ward with a one-time shot from the right faceoff dot that finds the top corner over the keepers glove hand
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Third Period:
- Carolina starts the period with early pressure on Clemmensen as JStaal gets a shot on goal
- Skinner breaks into the zone and loses control of the puck while trying to push the puck past Clemmensen
- Florida getting physical on scrambles around their net as their frustration is evident
- Carolina's Justin Faulk and Florida's Steven Weiss get into it with the young defenseman landing some good punches and gets the TKO
- Weiss gets two for elbowing, the original penalty on the play and five for fighting and a game misconduct while Faulk just gets five for fighting
- Carolina on the power play now and EStaal-Semin-Tlusty-LaRose and Corvo get one good shot on the PP opportunity so far - Carolina still leading 5-2 with 16 minutes to play
- Skinner-JStaal-LaRose with McBain and Harrison are out next for a short time
- Wallace-Nash-Bowman get some PP time
- Florida successefully kills the penalty off and both teams trade hits and stick checks
- Ward comes up wih a big save as Florida keeps the pressure on in the Carolina zone
- Goc cross-checks LaRose behind the Florida net and Carolina gets its fourth PP opportunity for the game
- Skinner-JStaal-Jokinen start it for the Hurricanes and battle with now tangible shot opportunities yet
- Skinner double shifts as EStaal and Semin come out and they get some puck movement started
- As Semin works the puck out of the right corner against two Panthers defenseman, he shovels it to Staal who slides the puck towards the net, it defelcts off Erik Gundbranson's skat and beats Clemmensen
- Carolina's lead is 6-2 with 7:59 to play after scoring that PP goal
- The next three minutes of play consists of back-and-forth puck movement at both ends and Carolina maintains pressure in the Florida zone with the work line out there
- EStaal and Semin keep up the pressure with 2:27 to go
- Hurricanes outshooting Florida 34-22 at this point as Florida is adding to its attempts that Ward keeps turning away
- Many Carolina faithful leaving now as this one is done
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