Luongo, Panthers stop Hurricanes in shootout
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in a shootout as the Florida Panthers snapped a four-game home losing streak, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Tuesday night at the BB&T Center.
Slumping Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who got only his third start in the past seven games, made 23 saves in regulation and overtime and also stopped both shots he saw in the shootout.
Luongo now has 453 career wins, two short of passing Curtis Joseph for fourth place in NHL history. However, this was just Luongo's fourth win in his past 10 starts.
Florida (29-23-10) got regulation goals from Jaromir Jagr and Vincent Trocheck. Jagr, 45, has 12 goals this season and 761 in his stellar career. Trocheck has a team-best 22 goals this season.
The last-place Hurricanes (25-25-9) got solid goaltending from Cam Ward. He made 29 saves, but Carolina fell to 1-5-2 in its past eight games.
Carolina got goals from Lee Stempniak, his 11th, in the second period, and rookie Sebastian Aho, who tied the score 2-2 on his score with 5:48 expired in the third.
Aho's goal, his 18th, came after a shot by Victor Rask, and it helped send the game to overtime. Aho simply beat Florida defenseman Alex Petrovic to the rebound.
Florida dominated the first period, grabbing a 2-0 lead. After Carolina got the first two shots on goal, Florida produced the next 11 and outshot the Hurricanes 11-3, tying a Panthers season record for the fewest shots allowed in a period.
The Panthers got on the board with 12:35 elapsed in the first on Jagr's power-play goal. A Carolina penalty -- too many men on the ice -- opened the way for Jonathan Huberdeau to thread a left-to-right pass to Jagr in the slot. Jagr beat Ward five-hole.
Four minutes later, Florida made it 2-0 when Trocheck pounced on a rebound off a shot by Reilly Smith. Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce tried to clear the puck, but Trocheck beat him there.
With 11:21 left in the second period, Florida nearly made it 3-0 on an apparent rebound goal by Nick Bjugstad. But a quick whistle saved Ward.
That proved important as Carolina scored a little over one minute later. Teuvo Teravainen slipped a right-to-left pass to Stempniak, who tapped in an easy goal into the open left side of the net.
NOTES: Carolina C Jeff Skinner (upper-body injury) was a last-minute scratch. ... The Hurricanes traded LW Viktor Stalberg to the Ottawa Senators for a 2017 third-round pick. ... Carolina LW Brock McGinn, who took a hard shot in the first minute of the game, did not play after the second period due to an upper-body injury. ... Florida put rookie C Denis Malgin in the lineup for the first time since recalling him on Sunday. ... Florida scratched LW Shawn Thornton and D Jakub Kindl. ... The last time Carolina and Florida played, the host Hurricanes won 3-2 on Nov. 27, and the Panthers fired coach Gerard Gallant soon after the game. ... Up next, Florida visits the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. ... Carolina visits the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.