SUNRISE, Fla. _ Their playoff chances teetering between slim and none, the Panthers insisted this week that they aren't in going-through-the-motions mode.
Granted, third-string goalie Reto Berra was making his debut start for Florida _ his first in the NHL since December, 2015 _ Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes at the BB&T Center. At 30, Berra is no neophyte, having made 65 previous NHL appearances, including 53 starts for Colorado and Calgary.
The Hurricanes got a power-play goal and a short-hander past Berra in a wide-open opening period, and two goals after that from Jeff Skinner for a 4-3 victory that virtually eliminated the Panthers from the playoffs with 10 games remaining.
Skinner, the Hurricanes' top goal-scorer, gave Carolina its first lead with 3:55 remaining when he put his 28th goal through Berra's legs.
The Panthers defense was occupied chasing Derek Ryan, who backhanded a pass to Skinner.
As Rowe pointed out, goalie James Reimer has been overworked in the injury absence of Roberto Luongo, starting the previous nine games.
Berra has been the good soldier, spending most of the season with AHL affiliate Springfield until Luongo was sidelined with a lower-body injury three weeks ago. He'd seen action in one game in a mop-up role and deserved a start, Rowe said.
An indication the Panthers were still putting a premium on accumulating wins, prized young defenseman Aaron Ekblad was back after missing four games with a concussion.
"We can't afford to have him out of the lineup," interim coach Tom Rowe said. "He was itching to play."
The Panthers didn't appear to be itching to play a lot of defense. Berra took a while to settle in, and loosey-goosey support didn't help his cause.
Offensively, the Panthers were focused, as they seemed content to trade goals with the Hurricanes. Three times in the first two periods the Panthers grabbed leads, only to give them right back.
It took them only 1:35 to find the net when Aleksander Barkov deflected in Jason Demers' long wrister from the right point for his 20th goal. The top line had the puck circulating in the neutral zone, with Jaromir Jagr sending it out to Demers.
The advantage was short-lived, though, as Carolina answered on the power play against the Panthers' top-ranked penalty-killing unit with Vincent Trocheck off for tripping. Teuvo Teravainen played a carom of a missed shot off the end boards to fire a quick wrist shot from the left circle past Berra at 5:09 of the opening period.
Slick passing by the Panthers' second line on a 3-on-2 put Florida back on top as Jussi Jokinen fed Reilly Smith on the doorstep for an easy tip-in for his 12th goal. Trocheck carried the puck through the middle of the zone and dished it to Jokinen, who sent it across the goal to Smith.
But the Panthers quickly coughed up the lead again as Carolina got a shortie by rookie Sebastian Aho off a Florida turnover. Elias Lindholm, on a partial breakaway with Trocheck pursuing, flipped a backhand pass to Aho, who slipped his 21st goal under Berra's pads.
The Panthers scored quickly again just over a minute into the second period when Keith Yandle banked in a goal from a sharp angle, ricocheting the puck off the sticks of goalie Cam Ward and a Carolina defenseman.
It took the Hurricanes less than 30 seconds to tie it again when Jeff Skinner cleaned up a rebound from Lee Stempniak, who split the Florida defense on a rush. It was Skinner's team-leading 27th goal.
The action tightened up after that. The Panthers had some prime scoring chances but couldn't get another puck past Ward.
