The Florida Panthers were a determined, seemingly combative bunch as they skated out Thursday to play the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Panthers’ Ryan Lomberg had an early fight with Cedric Paquette. Aleksander Barkov gave the Panthers an early lead.
But the Canes are a patient, poised team. Little fazes them, Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour has said more than once this season.
Trailing after the first period, the Canes surged in the second, scoring three times — at even strength, on the power play and shorthanded. They held strong in the third behind goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to win, 4-2, as the Canes took a two-point lead over Florida at the top of the Central Division.
Nino Niederreiter, continuing to put together a terrific season, gave the Canes a 2-1 lead in the second with a power-play goal, powering in a rebound. Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas then teamed up short-handed, Necas making a steal and then Aho finishing off a two-on-none rush for his 19th and a 3-1 lead.
Barkov’s second goal of the game, on a 5-on-3 power play, pulled Florida within 3-2 with 7:58 left in regulation. But Aho’s second goal, an empty-netter at the 19:44 mark, helped seal the win.
The Canes (31-10-5) lost another player. Jordan Martinook, who scored Carolina’s first goal Thursday, suffered a lower-body injury after a clean hit from Radko Gudas in the second period and did not return.
Defenseman Brady Skjei suffered a concussion Tuesday in the game against Tampa Bay and will be sidelined indefinitely. With Skjei out and Martinook leaving the game, the Canes were without two key penalty killers Thursday.
But the Canes had most the answers Thursday against the Panthers power plays. They killed off five straight penalties and got Aho’s short-handed score before Barkov scored on the 5-on-3 in the third, then killed off their seventh penalty.
The Canes later killed off a Staal delay-of-game penalty and then a hooking penalty against Vincent Trocheck as the Panthers (30-13-5) finished 1-9 on the power play.
