Florida Panthers
Preseason Takeaways, Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes 4, Florida Panthers 3
The Florida Panthers brought only four NHL regulars to Raleigh on Saturday and saw two of them score in a 4-3 exhibition loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Florida drops to 1-3 this preseason with the loss. The Panthers play host to the Lightning on Thursday night.
Two goals from Brent Burns in his preseason debut with the Hurricanes — including the eventual game-winner with 11 minutes to go — propelled the Hurricanes to a win.
Carolina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes of the game.
Burns got them started with a floater from above the face-off circle 6:12 in while Andrei Svechnikov followed it up with a wiretap shot on an odd-man rush six minutes later.
The Hurricanes led 12-0 in shots through the first intermission against a Panthers group ladened with AHL-bound players.
Florida got itself back in the game with contributions from the few NHL regulars in the second period.
Rudolfs Balcers got them started with a wrist shot off of a feed from Chris Tierney 48 seconds into the frame. Ryan Lomberg muscled a backhand shot in through traffic four minutes later to tie the game up.
Charlotte Checkers captain Zac Dalpe scored a power play goal off of a feed from Eetu Luostarinen to give the Panthers their first lead of the game with 10:44 to go in the second period.
That lead would only last five minutes. Martin Necas fired a one-timer from the face-off dot with 5:16 to go in the second to tie things up at three.
Burns put the Hurricanes ahead with 11 minutes to go with a shot that deflected off of Matt Kiersted’s skate and in.
Here are my takeaways from Saturday afternoon’s game:
- Spencer Knight looked sharp, making multiple big saves on 2-on-0 rushes to keep the Panthers in the game. He finished the afternoon with 43 saves on 47 shots (.915).
- Eetu Luostarinen had a lot more jump to his game in the offensive zone. He was creating offense with his passing and had two of Florida’s 10 shots.
- After this afternoon’s game, Florida’s opening night lineup should be a whole lot clearer. Grigori Denisenko especially seems to be on the outside looking in after struggling to keep possession of the puck multiple times.
- Santtu Kinnunen seems to have a future as a power play quarterback. He moves the puck smoothly and his swift lateral movement allows him to speed up the cycle game.
- Anton Levtchi showed off his playmaking ability on multiple occasions. He set up Lomberg’s goal from behind the Carolina net and started multiple rushes by finding his teammates in transition.
- Spencer Knight had another busy night for the Panthers as he faced 47 shots in the game — including 19 in the third period. Florida, which got off only two shots in the first, ended with a grand total of 10.
FLORIDA PANTHERS PRESEASON
Up Next
Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers
Where, When: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise; Thursday, 7 p.m.
Tickets: CLICK HERE
Streaming: FloridaPanthers.comÂ
2022 Preseason — Sept. 26: Florida 4, Nashville 3 (OT); Nashville 4, Florida 0. Sept. 29: Carolina 5, Florida 2. Oct. 1: Carolina 4, Florida 3. Thursday: vs. Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. Saturday: at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m
Regular Season Opener: Oct. 13 at New York Islanders
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What’s your assessment of Eric Staal, honestly it would have to be a pass for me.
Unless something crazy happens, he looks like he belongs on this team. Could be some cap problems but at a veteran minimum deal that should not be an issue.
Too old and slow.He is a roster filler imo .Lack of patience with this ownership trying to win stanley cup quickly has resulted in semi disaster with yandle contract and go for broke moves with cup playoffs has created bad salary cap moves that have forced Zito to basically sacrificed draft picks and Huberdeau ,Weegar,and Tippett.They could have had a playoff team next few years and done this much slower.Remember we have to count 5 million against cap next year with that dreadful Yandle acquisition.
that Yandel deal was bad, but to me, Zito’s greatest accomplishment was getting rid of that horrible Brett Connolly contract, we had to give up Borgstrom to do so, but he turned out to be a bust, plus we gut Carlson out of the deal, and he looks like he could stick as a 5th or 6th d-man, not a bad deal for getting rid of what was regularly considered one of the leagues worst contracts. I think at the time we signed him, Connolly was the third highest paid forward on the team, behind only Barkov and Huberdeau.