And then there were none.
On a Saturday night in Sunrise, Florida, the last undefeated team in the NHL played. The winner already had one overtime loss but otherwise a perfect record in regulation. The team with the purely perfect record with no losses in regulation or overtime? They lost.
The Florida Panthers moved to 10-0-1 with a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Anthony Duclair scored a pair of goals to give him the First Star of the Night honors. Florida racked up an impressive 4 unanswered goals in the first period alone before Carolina managed to get on the board, which wouldn't be until near the middle of the 2nd period. Of those 4 first period goals, 3 were on the power play, coming from Duclair, Frank Patrano, Anton Lundell, and Patric Hornqvist. Carolina's first puck in the net came courtesy of Jesper Fast and then Vincent Trocheck, a former Panther, scored Carolina's only power play goal of the game with under 5 minutes to go in the 2nd frame of regulation.
Only one goal was scored in the 3rd, and it was Duclair's 2nd of the night on an empty Carolina net with 59 seconds left in regulation.
While Carolina did ouhit the Panthers and win more faceoffs than them with 35-21 and 38-21 advantages, respectively, Florida countered with one more penalty minute and tying the Canes on total shots. Each side had 32 shots apiece for a 64-shot combined total.
Carolina suffers its first regulation loss of the season, dropping to 9-1-0. Their next matchup is a Tuesday night clash with the 2-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 PM. For the Cats, they head north to New York City to play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden at 7 PM also.
Commentaires