Sebastian Aho scored with 18.9 seconds to play and Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 44 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the visiting Florida Panthers to win 1-0 on Thursday night in a showdown between two of the Eastern Conference’s best teams in Raleigh, N.C.
Aho’s 21st goal of the season came on a late power play and was assisted by Andrei Svechnikov and Jesper Fast. A postgame scrum between the teams followed.
Kochetkov, who had been the backup the previous two games, needed 16 third-period saves for his third shutout of the season and seventh in 56 career games.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots, but Florida’s six-game winning streak ended. The Panthers had won 10 of their previous 11 games.
Bobrovsky still hasn’t allowed more than two goals in any of his last eight games, but he had a personal seven-game winning streak snapped.
Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen had a goal nullified with 3:18 remaining in regulation because of offsides. The scenario for Luostarinen’s would-be 11th goal of the season came shortly after Aho failed to score on a strong opportunity at the other end.
Aho had another chance and made it count.
The teams were playing in Raleigh for the first time since last spring’s Eastern Conference finals, when Florida won the first two games on the road on the way to a four-game sweep. The Panthers will return to Raleigh on March 14 after splitting the first two meetings this season.
The third period featured some drama. Carolina’s Svechnikov and Martin Necas each were in position on a power play, but didn’t convert. The Panthers also had a short-handed chance.
The Panthers produced a 16-8 advantage in first-period shots on goal, putting the Hurricanes in an unusual situation because they often outshoot their opponents. Each team had 12 second-period shots.
It was largely a penalty-free game, with the Hurricanes going a man down in the final minute of the first period and both teams going on one third-period power play before the final moments.
–Field Level Media
