The Florida Panthers played their final road game of the 2025 calendar year on Tuesday night in Raleigh. For the second time in less than a week against Carolina, the Panthers erased a multi-goal third period deficit to pick up a resounding two points over the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, this time skating to a 5-2 victory at Lenovo Center. It didn’t take long for Carolina to jump out to an early lead. On a play that started behind the Hurricanes’ net, Joel Nystrom sent a pass about 150 feet down the ice to Sebastian Aho as he entered into Florida’a zone. Aho stopped at the top of the right circle and dropped a pass to Eric Robinson, and his long wrist shot eluded Sergei Bobrovsky to give Carolina a 1-0 lead just 4:11 into the game. Florida started the second period on a power play, but that ended up biting them in the backside. Immediately after Carolina killed off the tripping penalty taken by Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal had the puck on his stick and sprung Svechnikov on a breakaway. His five hole goal on Bobrovsky put the Hurricanes up 2-0 less than two minutes into the middle frame. That would be the lead that Carolina carried into the final fame, which as it turns out, had them exactly where the Panthers wanted. Cats defenseman Niko Mikkola got things started for Florida at the 3:53 mark when his long one-timer that came during a Panthers flurry in the Hurricanes end beat Frederik Andersen gloveside. Just 2:24 later, a forced turnover by Aaron Ekblad led to Luke Kunin’s second goal of the season, and then exactly 43 seconds after that, a great feed from Sam Reinhart below the goal line found a cutting Anton Lundell, and just like that the Panthers led Carolina 3-2 with exactly 13 minutes to go. They weren’t done there. A nasty wrist shot by Sam Bennett from the right circle beat Andersen over the blocker gave the Panthers a two-goal lead just before the midway point of the third period. Seth Jones capped off the amazing period by the Panthers with a power play goal, his sixth tally of the year, to give Florida a 5-2 lead with 4:39 on the clock. While the comeback will get much of the attention, Bobrovsky come up with several massive saves that kept the game at 2-0, allowing Florida a chance to make their comeback. Bob finished with 17 saves, including stops on all four of Carolina’s high danger shots. Florida has now won eight of their past ten. Not too shabby. On to the holiday break! LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Panthers' Mackie Samoskevich Out Against Hurricanes; Greer Good To Go [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/panthers-mackie-samoskevich-out-against-hurricanes-greer-good-to-go] Panthers look to head into holiday break on high note, to meet Hurricanes in Carolina [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-look-to-head-into-holiday-break-on-high-note-to-meet-hurricanes-in-carolina] Panthers to honor Brad Marchand for reaching 1,000 career points [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/panthers-to-honor-brad-marchand-for-reaching-1-000-career-points] Mackie Samoskevich Remains Day-To-Day, Health Status In Unknown For Panthers' Upcoming Encounter With Hurricanes [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/mackie-samoskevich-remains-day-to-day-health-status-in-unknown-for-panthers-upcoming-encounter-with-hurricanes] Three takeaways: Panthers ran out of gas against Blues, but they expect to bounce back quickly [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-panthers-ran-out-of-gas-against-blues-but-they-expect-to-bounce-back-quickly] Photo caption: Dec 23, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) skates with the puck against Carolina Hurricanes center Logan Stankoven (22) during the first period at Lenovo Center. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)
