George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers put their six-game winning streak to the test against host Carolina on Tuesday night.
If they didn’t regret trading Vincent Trocheck away last February, well, he makes sure they do every time they meet.
Tuesday night, Trocheck scored twice and the Hurricanes got a pair of empty net goals to snap Florida’s winning streak with a 5-2 win at PNC Arena.
Trocheck and Jordan Staal each scored twice, spoiling a big game from Sasha Barkov.
The good news? Florida remains atop the Central Division.
The bad? Carolina has won four of five against the Panthers and is right on their heels.
“We had a lot of good things going,” said Joel Quenneville, whose team led 2-1 going into the third. “It was a hard-fought game. I thought we had a chance to go up a couple earlier in the game and didn’t get it. It was still anyone’s game.
”We had our turn, they had their turn. Last couple of games against them, could have gone on either way. We were on the short end of it. They’re a good hockey team.”
Carolina had won three of the first four meetings between the two coming into Tuesday’s game with all but one going to overtime.
On Tuesday, the Panthers got two goals from Barkov and 31 saves from Bobrovsky but could not continue their winning ways.
Florida took the initial lead when Barkov followed up a MacKenzie Weegar shot at 11:19 of the first.
The two teams played a back-and-forth game throughout with both Bobrovsky and Petr Mzarek (34 saves) making one big stop after another.
Both goalies were outstanding, for the most part, on Tuesday.
In the second, Trocheck (who else?) got another goal against his former teammates as he knocked in a puck on a power play chance late in the second.
The play was reviewed to see if Trocheck batted it in, but he did not, and he now has a goal in all five games against Florida since it traded him to the Hurricanes before the 2020 trade deadline.
The game would not be tied for long.
Moments later, Mason Marchment drove the pick into the zone, passed it to Carter Verhaeghe who sliced a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Barkov.
Barkov’s one-timer gave the Panthers what would be their final lead of the night.
”Like you see, there is not a lot of difference between the two teams on the ice,” Barkov said.
“Both teams are playing really well, not giving up much. All five games have been tight. I expect all of the other games to be tight, too. We just have to find a way to win them. We have been close, we just haven’t won them.”
Carolina’s top-ranked power play got another chance after Frank Vatrano was called for interference late in the second.
Although the Panthers went into the break up 2-1, Carolina would cash in on the power play as Trocheck deflected a puck to give him six goals in five games against the Panthers this season.
”Good for him, he’s scoring goals against us,” Barkov said of Trocheck, who now has 16 goals this season.
“He is playing well this season. But like I said, we have to find a way to win games. It’s not about them, it is about us.”
Staal later scored through Bobrovsky’s skates to make it 3-2; Florida pulled Bobrovsky with just under three minutes left and the Hurricanes expanded their lead.
”They are a good team with the lead,” Quenneville said. “They got it and then they look to shut you down. Tough to generate consistently but we had a couple of chances in their zone. They look to get the lead, they got it and they didn’t give up much.”
DUCLAIR ON THE MEND
Quenneville said that injured forward Anthony Duclair was on the trip and skated on Tuesday.
Duclair has been out since hurting his shoulder after being tripped by the stick of Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss and slamming into the end boards.
With Tuesday being the first game of a six-game trip, Quenneville said he was hopeful Duclair would play.
Duclair has been on the IR for more than a week so he is free to be activated whenever he is healthy.
GEORGE’S THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Vincent Trocheck, Carolina
2. Sasha Barkov, Florida
3. Jordan Staal, Carolina
ON DECK: PANTHERS AT HURRICANES
When: Thursday, 7
Where: PNC Arena; Raleigh, NC
Season series: Carolina leads 4-1
TV/Radio: BSFLA/560-AM