The Hurricanes dodged a bullet four minutes into the contest when Stephen Weiss, Sean Bergenheim, Keaton Ellerby and Mike Santorelli all got a shot on goal within a minute of each other. Cam Ward was the saving grace for the Hurricanes early, making saves both easy and difficult.
Through the first half of the period, the Panthers outshot the Hurricanes 10 shots to two, outhustling Carolina with crisp passing and timely takeaways.
At the 11 minute mark, John Madden fed the puck right through Cam Ward’s goal mouth but there was no one there to capitalize on the great feed.
The teams traded chances for the rest of the period, with the majority of the action happening in the Carolina zone, but neither team could get on the board before the 20 minutes was up.
Hits: Carolina, 10-5 (Andreas Nodl led the Hurricanes with three, Mike Weaver led the Cats with two)
Blocked Shots: Panthers, 4-3 (Keaton Ellerby had three for the Panthers)
Faceoffs: Panthers, 9-6 (Eric Staal went three-of-seven in the faceoff circle, Stephen Weiss was an impressive five-for-six for the Cats)
Shots on goal: Panthers, 14-5 (No Cane had more than one shot, Mike Santorelli and Stephen Weiss both had three for Florida)
Score: Panthers 0, Hurricanes 0