Cat 0: Carolina Hurricanes 4, Florida Panthers 0

There would be no comeback for the Panthers on Thursday night against the host Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina, bolstered by a handful of trade deadline additions, took a three-goal lead into the third and shut out the Panthers for the second consecutive time in a month, this one 4-0.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, playing in his third game with the Hurricanes after being let go by the Capitals, had a goal and an assist.

The Panthers also, again, struggled to get anything past the Carolina goalie — this time, it was Frederik Andersen doing the honors after Pyotr Kochetkov had a 45-save shutout.

Andersen only had to make 21 saves against the Panthers on Thursday. Florida had 11 shots in the final 40 minutes.

The Panthers did put a lot of pressure on the Carolina goalie early, but then it was the Hurricanes dictating the play — and the scoreboard.

The Hurricanes were the aggressor late in the first and took advantage of the Panthers failing to clear the puck in front of Sergei Bobrovsky.

Seth Jarvis opened the scoring in the final minute of the first, with Martin Necas and Kuznetsov scoring in the opening half of the second.

Florida spent much of the second period defending its zone, and did not always do such a hot job of it. Carolina’s two goals in the period came when the Panthers failed to clear the puck.

Andrei Svechnikov got the final goal, scoring into an empty net despite all the hustle Brandon Montour could muster with 4:18 remaining.

The Panthers had won eight of nine coming in, and of their four losses in the past 22 games, two have come to the host Hurricanes.

Florida swept Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals last year, winning the first two games of the series in Raleigh.

GOALS OF THE GAME

• Hurricanes 1, Panthers 0 (19:11, 1st): Seth Jarvis rips a shot from the left dot that Sergei Bobrovsky probably never saw coming to open the scoring for Carolina.
• Hurricanes 2, Panthers 0 (2:46, 2nd): Florida could not clear the puck out of the offensive zone, with Martin Necas one-timing a shot from the right side through Eetu Luostarinen.
• Hurricanes 3, Panthers 0 (8:27, 2nd): The Panthers again failed to get a puck out of the zone and Evgeny Kuznetsov gets his first with his new team.
• Hurricanes 4, Panthers 0 (15:42, 3rd EN): Andrei Svechnikov’s roller beats Brandon Montour.

GR’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

1. Frederik Andersen, Carolina

2. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Carolina

3. Seth Jarvis, Carolina

ON DECK

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Streaming ONLY: ESPN+/Hulu
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM 2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series (Panthers Lead 2-0) — At Tampa Bay: Panthers 3, Lightning 2 (Dec. 27); Panthers 9, Lightning 2 (Feb. 17). At Florida: Saturday.
• Last season: Even 2-2
• All-time regular season series: Florida leads 77-50-19, 10 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Nashville, 7 p.m. (ESPN+)