SUNRISE, Fla. — They were playing the last undefeated team in the National Hockey League and doing so without Aleksander Barkov. And Sergei Bobrovsky.
And Sam Bennett. And in the end, none of that mattered.
Because the Florida Panthers, with their depth on full display, used a dominant first period to take a lead they wouldn’t give up as they knocked off the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
Florida, at 10-0-1, now stands as the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss this season. The Hurricanes are now 9-1-0.
How dominant was the opening period? The Panthers scored four goals, including three on the power play, on 14 shots. Anthony Duclair, Frank Vatrano, Anton Lundell and Patric Hornqvist scored for the Panthers in the opening period. Duclair was involved in all three power-play goals, getting the secondary assists on the goals by Vatrano and Hornqvist. Brandon Montour also had two assists.
The effort temporarily sent Carolina goaltender Frederick Andersen to the bench.
And it was only temporarily because Anderson had to re-enter the game about 12 and a half minutes into the second period after Hurricanes backup goaltender Antti Raanta was injured after a collision with Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg near the right circle faceoff dot when Raanta left the crease trying to make a play on the puck.
Lomberg was hit with a five-minute penalty for charging as well as a game misconduct. Carolina managed to score just one goal in that five-minute window, with Vincent Trocheck’s snap shot in front of the net on a feed from Andrei Svechnikov beating Spencer Knight. Carolina also scored on a Jesper Fest snap shot earlier in the period.
Duclair added an empty-net goal with less than a minute in the third period to cap scoring and his four-point effort.
Knight stopped 28 shots and was perfect in the first and third periods to improve to 4-0-1 on the season.
And remember, the Panthers pulled this off without their captain and star center Barkov, who was a late scratch with a lower-body injury.
With the Panthers also without centers Bennett and Joe Thornton, both of whom are on injured reserve, Florida’s center depth was tested and its forward lines were reconfigured.
Eetu Luostarinen moved up to the top line to center Carter Verhaeghe and Duclair.
Lomberg entered as the Panthers’ 12th forward and played left wing on the fourth line with Mason Marchment at center and Hornqvist at right wing.
Another change in the Panthers’ forward lines: Rookie center Lundell played on the second line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Owen Tippett, while Sam Reinhart centered Vatrano and Maxim Mamin on Florida’s third line.
Lundell also took on the bulk of Barkov’s special-team responsibilities, playing on the top power play unit and leading Panthers players in shorthanded time on ice.
