Barkov, Huberdeau get SO goals; Panthers beat Hurricanes 3-2 (Feb 28, 2017)
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers each got a much-needed win.
Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the shootout and the Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Florida snapped a three-game losing streak and won at home for the first time in five games.
Roberto Luongo stopped both Carolina skaters in the shootout after making 23 saves in just his third start in seven games. Luongo was mired in a slump and got just his fourth win in 11 games.
''Maybe it wasn't as beautiful as we wanted it to be, but we got the job done and we scored some big goals in the shootout,'' Luongo said. ''Hopefully, tonight is a first step in the right direction, but I just want to keep working hard right now.''
''He was really good,'' Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe said. ''He made big saves when we needed him to. He had been fighting it a little bit. I think he felt real good about himself tonight.''
In the first round of the shootout, Barkov moved the puck side to side while skating in on Cam Ward before slipping it past his left leg and into the net.
Jaromir Jagr scored his 761st career goal. Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Panthers, who blew a 2-0 first period lead.
''I felt like we played very good in the first period and for whatever reason we thought it's over after 20 minutes,'' Jagr said. ''We just gave them the momentum. At the end of the night, I felt like we were lucky to get one point.''
Sebastian Aho and Lee Stempniak scored for Carolina, and Ward stopped 29 shots.
The Hurricanes have lost seven of eight games.
''That was a good point after the way we started,'' Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. ''I give them credit for finding a way and digging deep and gut out a point.''
Aho tied it at 2 when his shot from the low slot got past Luongo at 5:48 of the third.
The Hurricanes closed to 2-1 when Stempniak took a pass from Teuvo Teravainen and pushed in the puck from in front at 9:46 of the second.
''I saw he was going backdoor so I tried to put a little sauce in there and luckily he put it in,'' Teravainen said. ''We didn't have the start we want, down 2-0, but we couldn't get the win but got at least a point.''
Jagr gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead on his power-play goal. He took a nice feed from Huberdeau, and his shot from low in the right circle beat Ward with 7:25 left in the first.
Jagr has scored twice since turning 45 on Feb. 15, joining Gordie Howe and Chris Chelios as the only players to score multiple goals at that age.
The Panthers have scored a power-play goal in four straight games.
Trocheck put the Panthers ahead 2-0 when he slammed in a rebound for his team-leading 22nd goal.
The last time Carolina and Florida played, the host Hurricanes won 3-2 on Nov. 27. After that game, the Panthers fired then-coach Gerard Gallant.
NOTES: Huberdeau and Barkov each have 11 points in their past 11 games. ... Carolina sent forward Viktor Stalberg to the Ottawa Senators for a third-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft. ... LW Brock McGinn left with an upper-body injury after the first period and did not return. ... C Jeff Skinner, Carolina's leading scorer, was scratched with an upper-body injury and will also miss Wednesday's game at Tampa Bay.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Visit Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Hurricanes: Visit Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.
