The Florida Panthers struck three times in the third period to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3 on Friday afternoon at Lenovo Center.
Jesper Boqvist opened the scoring for Florida just 2:26 into the first period with a backhand shot. Seth Jarvis answered on the power play for Carolina at 5:42, but the Panthers reclaimed control before the intermission. Sam Reinhart scored his 18th goal of the season at 9:05, and Carter Verhaeghe widened the margin to 3-1 with a wrist shot at 11:21.
Carolina rallied to tie the game during the second period. Sean Walker beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a snap shot at 6:24, and Eric Robinson tipped in a puck at 17:18 to level the score at 3-3 heading into the final frame.
Florida pulled away early in the third period. A.J. Greer broke the tie at 4:58 with a wrist shot, followed by a shorthanded goal from Anton Lundell at 9:08 to establish a two-goal cushion. Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with seven seconds remaining to finish the scoring.
Bobrovsky earned the win in net for the Panthers by stopping 28 of 31 shots. Spencer Martin made 24 saves on 29 shots for the Hurricanes. Carolina converted one of five opportunities on the power play, while Florida finished 0-for-2 with the man advantage but scored once while shorthanded.
The victory extended the Panthers regular-season winning streak to two games and brought their record to 14-9-1. Carolina dropped to 16-6-1 after having its two-game winning streak halted.
