The Cats took the ice wearing their alternate blue jerseys. They have points in their last seven home games, the first streak of such length since 2005-06.
Alexei Ponikarovsky tripped Mike Weaver just under two minutes into the game. The resultant power play saw Tomas Fleischmann put the puck on the net, but the Canes cleared the puck out three times and the Cats were offsides twice on the man advantage.
Back at even strength at the four minute mark, Sean Bergenheim grabbed his own rebound and stuck it in the left side of the net for his seventh goal of the season, assisted by Ed Jovanovski and Shawn Matthias. It was Jovanovski’s 58th assist as a Florida Panther, moving him into a tie for 30th with Paul Laus.
Carolina went on the power play seven minutes into the game when Mikael Samuelsson tripped Chad LaRose. The Panthers penalty kill was on point for the shift, clearing the puck five times while only allowing one shot on goal.
Shawn Matthias almost had himself a wraparound goal, but he couldn’t get a clean shot off.
Jose Theodore made about four saves in ten seconds as the Eric Staal line assaulted the Florida goaltender about 13 minutes into the game.
With just over a minute left in the third, Tim Gleason scored his first of the season and first in 98 games to pull the Hurricanes even at one, assisted by Jamie McBain and Tuomo Ruutu with a shot from between the circles that trickled between Theodore’s legs.
Hits: Panthers, 8-7
Blocked Shots: Panthers, 6-0
Faceoffs: Hurricanes, 11-9
Shots On Goal: Panthers, 8-7
Score: Panthers 1, Hurricanes 1