Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe speaks after Florida's 6-3 win in Carolina on Nov. 29. The Florida Panthers appear to be back on track after a rough stretch earlier this month. Florida picked up a resounding 6-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in Sunrise for their third straight win. The win streak comes on the heels of a run-in which Florida lost seven of eight, so seeing them turn things around against two very good teams – Carolina and Toronto – is a great way to wrap up their November. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNjE3OTM2NjIzMjQ4NDky/img_6014.jpg] Florida scored three goals on their first five shots on Spencer Martin during Friday’s game, so it made sense that Carolina worked extra hard not to allow a shot until nearly five minutes in on Saturday, including two minutes of Panthers power play time. On the other end of the ice, Spencer Knight made several strong saves during the first period, including a left arm stop on Carolina points leader Martin Necas on a semi-breakaway. By the end of a scoreless first period, Martin had already made 11 saves, including all five of Florida’s high-danger shots. Conversely, only one of Carolina’s nine first period shots were considered high danger, according to Natural Stat Trick. Florida thought they scored the first goal early in the second, but the play was called offside after a challenge, which came long after the initial zone entry. Both goaltenders continued to come up big, keeping the game scoreless until around its halfway mark. That’s when Aaron Ekblad fired a shot past a sprawling Martin, who was in the middle of trying to recover in his goal crease, to give Florida a 1-0 lead. The Cats came up with a massive penalty kill during the latter stages of the period, one in which all four of Florida’s killers – Sasha Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Gus Forsling and Ekblad – were all on the ice for the full two minutes. Not long after, Florida was given a power play of their own, and Mackie Samoskevich slammed home a perfect feed from Matthew Tkachuk with 0.8 on the clock, sending the Panthers into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. A great play by Anton Lundell led to Florida’s third goal. He won the puck in Carolina’s zone despite being outnumbered three-to-one, then fed a streaking Eetu Luostarinen who found Sam Bennett going to the net. Bennett’s 12th goal of the season gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead with 11:41 to go. Barkov picked up a late power play goal on another primary assist from Tkachuk to make it 4-0 Florida, and a sneaky backhand from Adam Boqvist beat Martin and sent him to the bench while giving the Cats one for the thumb. Evan Rodrigues deflected home a power play goal just over a minute later as Carolina absolutely fell apart during the third period. Florida ended up outscoring the Hurricanes 12-3 over the two games in just 24 hours. On to Pittsburgh. QUICK THOUGHTS Ekblad is now up to seven points over his past eight games after picking up his first goal of the season Saturday. Samoskevich has now logged four goals and seven points during the 11 games he’s played in November. Speaking of November, Barkov now has 21 points in 14 games this month. Luostarinen has now logged four assists over a three-game point streak after picking up the primary on Bennett’s goal. His linemate and countrymate, Mr. Lundell, is on a nice run as well, with two goals and five points over his past four games. Florida went 3-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Panthers aim to win third straight as they wrap up back-to-back with Carolina [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-aim-to-win-third-straight-as-they-wrap-up-back-to-back-with-carolina] Three takeaways: Florida building momentum, receiving contributions from across lineup [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-florida-building-momentum-receiving-contributions-from-across-lineup] Reinhart scores again, Panthers take down Carolina 6-3 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/reinhart-scores-again-panthers-take-down-carolina-6-3] Panthers in Raleigh for second straight matchup with a division leader [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-in-raleigh-for-second-straight-matchup-with-a-division-leader] Video tributes to former Florida Panthers welcome back Stanley Cup Champions [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/video-tributes-to-former-florida-panthers-welcome-back-stanley-cup-champions] Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAxNjQxMjA5NjI4NzMxMDIz/unnamed.jpg]
