SUNRISE, Fla. _ The last time the Panthers played the Carolina Hurricanes they blew a two-goal lead and after the game their coach was fired over the phone.
History nearly repeated itself, score-wise that is. Once again Florida coughed up a two-goal lead but this time pulled out a much-needed 3-2 victory over the undermanned Hurricanes Tuesday night in a mostly barren BB&T Center to finish out a disappointing 1-3 homestand.
It took shootout goals by Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau to accomplish the task.
Roberto Luongo, who recently said he didn't deserve to be playing while going through one of the worst slumps of his certain Hall of Fame career, certainly needed a victory and he got it with 29 saves.
Luongo had gone 3-5-1 with a 3.95 goals-against-average and .889 save percentage dating back to mid-January, notched 29 saves.
The 15th-place Hurricanes, who have lost seven of their last eight, are sellers as the trade deadline approaches Wednesday at 3 p.m., for the eighth consecutive season. On Tuesday, they dealt fourth-line left wing Viktor Stalberg to the Senators and last week they shipped off veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey to the Penguins.
Also, forward Jeff Skinner, their perennial leading scorer, returned to Raleigh with an upper-body injury, forcing Hurricanes coach Bill Peters to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. They were down to 10 by the end of the first when Brock McGinn went out with an upper-body injury.
The Panthers, who are in the thick of the playoff race, are buyers, but will be en route to Philadelphia during much of the trade activity. Interim coach Tom Rowe hinted if a forward with offensive punch could bolster their depth then acting General Manager Dale Tallon would be willing to part with draft picks, but won't touch his talented core.
"Dale's been working the phones pretty good to see if there's something he can do, but right now it's real quiet," Rowe said after morning skate. "I like this group a lot. If we add some depth we're not losing any bodies off the roster."
After a sleep-walking, 6-shot period the Panthers led 2-1 but not for long as defenseman Alex Petrovic whiffed on a clear in front of the net and Sebastian Aho slammed in the rebound at 5:48 which ended up forcing overtime.
The Panthers suddenly robust power play clicked for the fifth time in their last 12 opportunities over four games when Barkov, from the side boards, gave Huberdeau a no-look, between-the-legs pass which Huberdeau then fed a charging Jaromir Jagr for a wide-open layup past Cam Ward at 12:35.
Jagr's 12th goal came against Carolina's top-ranked PK unit. He joined Gordie Howe and Chris Chelios as the only players with multiple goals after turning 45, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Four minutes later Vincent Trocheck pounced on a juicy rebound of Reilly Smith's snap-shot for his team-leading 22nd goal at 16:37 for a 2-0 lead after one.
The Panthers, who outshot Carolina 11-3 in the first period, didn't have a shot until nine minutes in when Nick Bjugstad poked in rebound for what seemed to be a 3-0 lead. Instead, a premature whistle negated it, and about 1:30 later Lee Stempniak took a sweet pass from Teuvo Teravainen on the doorstep to make it 2-1 after two.
Ward, who became the 11th goalie in NHL history to start his 600th game for the same franchise, lost his fifth consecutive game (0-3-2) to ruin his 34th birthday, which actually falls on Feb. 29 or leap year.
Luongo and Jagr were trade deadline pickups for Florida in 2014 and '15 respectively. Last year at this time, in the midst of a franchise-record 103-point season, the Panthers added three veterans at the deadline, including forwards Teddy Purcell and Jiri Hudler, as well as defenseman Jakub Kindl. Only Kindl remains on the roster as the seventh defenseman.
.jpg?w=600)
