In Sunrise, the Carolina Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead through two periods on Thursday night, then held off the Panthers for a 6-4 win after a wild third period.
The win clinched the Metro Division’s crown for the Canes. Carolina will face the New York Islanders in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
“The guys we’ve got in that room, they’re as honest as they come and they go out there and the earn their way every night,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “And that’s what you see. That’s the way we have to get it done top to bottom, doesn’t matter who it is. They just come to play.
“I’m proud of the group. Honestly, it’s kind of neat. I mean, that’s a big accomplishment. Eighty-two games, to be the best in the division in the division we’re in, that says a lot. But it’s not what we are about. It’s not what we came to do. We’ve got bigger things that we obviously want to accomplish.”
Brent Burns scored the first of a paif goals in the first period to give the Canes a 1-0, Jesperi Kotkaniemi doubled the lead to 2-0 in the second period/
It stayed that way until both teams hit for four goals in the final frame.
“It got a little crazy,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s never easy for the group, that’s for sure. We had a couple of bad bounces, obviously. We had played a pretty good game, and then all of a sudden a couple of weird things happened and all of a sudden it was a game. But I love how the guys just went about their business and restored the lead and played pretty solidly. The end was a little weird, but for the most part it was a [heck] of an effort.”
Alexander Barkov and Ryan Lomberg scored in the first 3:33 of the third to knot the game, 2-2, for the Panthers.
Burns and Jesper Fast scored 321 seconds apart to give the Canes 4-2 advantage.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him (Burns), to be honest,” Brind’Amour said of Burns. “Our [defensemen] are special back there. And the amount of pressure we put on him to perform in every aspect of the game, and this guy is better than advertised or as good or whatever. And a real pleasure to be around and have him with our group.”
Shayne Gostisbehere hit an empty net for a 5-2 lead to Carolina.The Panthers replied with a pair of goals from Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe to close the gap to 5-4, but Sebastian Aho hit another empty net for the 6-4 final with under one minute to go in the game.
“We’ve shown that for a couple years now; we never give up no matter what the score is,” Duclair said. “It’s nice to see that even in Game 82, we’ve still got that fight. We’re gearing up for the playoffs here. We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Alex Lyon made 30 saves in the loss.
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