Hurricanes win NHL’s Metro Division with 6-4 win over Panthers on final day of season
It’s on to the playoffs for the Carolina Hurricanes, and they’re going in again as the Metropolitan Division champions.
The Canes took care of their business Thursday against the Florida Panthers, getting two goals from defenseman Brent Burns and taking a 6-4 victory over the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
The Hurricanes (52-21-9) finished the regular season with 113 points, holding off the New Jersey Devils for the Metro title. Carolina will face the New York Islanders in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, with Game 1 to be played Monday at PNC Arena. Game 2 will be Wednesday at PNC Arena.
“I’m proud of the group,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously it’s kind of neat. I mean, that’s a heckuva accomplishment, 82 games, to be the best in the division. And in the division we’re in, that says a lot.
“But that’s not what we came to do. We’ve got bigger things that we obviously want to accomplish.”
It turned out to be a tense, suspenseful night, with a number of twists and turns in two cities.
The Canes led 1-0 after the first period, 2-0 after the second. The Devils, playing in Washington, fell behind 3-0 in the first and trailed the Capitals 4-2 after two periods. Everything seems to be falling into place nicely for the Canes.
Then, with 1:24 left in regulation, the Canes had a 5-4 lead after the Panthers quickly twice scored with an extra attacker, pulling goalie Alex Lyon. The Devils, in turn, had rallied to tie up the Caps 4-4 and then force overtime.
But Sebastian Aho’s empty-net goal, with one minute remaining, finally eased the tension for the Canes. The Devils would win in overtime 5-4, but closed out the regular season with 112 points and will take on the New York Rangers in the opening round of the playoff.
The Panthers, who took the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference, go up against the Boston Bruins, the Atlantic Division champions who had an NHL-best 135 points in a record-setting season. The Isles claimed the first wild-card berth with 93 points.
“It got a little crazy,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s never easy for this group, that’s for sure. We had played a pretty good game and then all of a sudden a couple of weird things happened and it was a game. But the guys went on about their business and restored the lead and played pretty solidly.
“Again, the end was a little weird. But for the most part that was a helluva effort.”
Canes goalie Frederik Andersen started Thursday and was rock-solid for two periods. But the Panthers made a strong push to start the third, scoring twice in the first 3:33 for a 2-2 tie.
Brind’Amour used his timeout at that point and the Hurricanes regained their composure. Burns’ second goal, at 6:07 of the third, pushed the Canes back ahead, Jesper Fast scored off a Jordan Staal rebound 28 seconds later for a 4-2 lead and Shayne Gostisbehere added to it with an empty-net goal.
“A timely timeout and we regrouped and got ourselves together and we finished off strong,” Gostisbehere said.
But with Lyon out of net, the Panthers made it hectic in the final minutes as Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe scored in a 38-second span. Andersen, who had 30 saves in the game, faced nine shots in the last 2:02 of regulation.
“He was good and then he wasn’t good. That’s just the facts,” Brind’Amour said of Andersen. “But I love that he keeps battling.”
It should make for an interesting decision for Brind’Amour: which goalie to start in Game 1 against the Islanders — Andersen or Antti Raanta.
Andersen missed the playoffs last year with a knee injury as Raanta and rookie Pyotr Kochetkov were used in net. Raanta won Game 7 against the Bruins in the opening round before the Canes lost to the Rangers in the second round.
Burns and Jesper Fast scored in a 21-second span in the third period after the Panthers tied the score 2-2. That came after Brind’Amour used his timeout after Florida’s Aleksander Barkov and Ryan Lomberg scored — Lomberg after Andersen was indecisive handling the puck behind the net.
The Canes showed some early jump, forcing a Panthers penalty seconds after the opening faceoff, winning puck battles and staying positionally sound most of the opening two periods.
Burns scored in the first after a faceoff win in the Florida zone by Aho, the puck glancing off a Panthers player.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, one of six Canes to play all 82 games this season, picked up his 18th at 1:12 of the second.
The game Thursday offered some nice story lines other than the myriad playoff scenarios.
Canes captain Jordan Staal played against older brothers Eric Staal and Marc Staal of the Panthers — Eric a former Hurricanes captain and member of the 2006 Stanley Cup champs. Panthers coach Paul Maurice had two stints coaching Carolina, taking the Canes to the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
Then there was Lyon, who has spurred the Panthers’ late-season surge. He played two games for the Hurricanes last season while also helping the Chicago Wolves of the AHL win a Calder Cup title.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Hurricanes win NHL’s Metro Division with 6-4 win over Panthers on final day of season."
