In Raleigh, the Hurricanes’ Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves in a 3-0 whitewash of the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
“That’s the biggest thing right now, getting the wins,” Nedeljkovic said. “Obviously, you want to play well individually and guys want to do well for themselves, but at the end of the day, if we’re winning games as a team and we’re going far, we’re all going to succeed.”
Sebastian Aho scored in the 15th minute of the first period for a 1-0 lead to the Canes.
“I don’t know that we were very good, but we worked hard and our defense really got in the way and made it tough for them to get a lot going on,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I like the fact that we found a different way to win tonight.”
Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Hurricanes.
Martin Necas added an empty-net goal for the icing.
“I think Carolina does a really good job on their penalty kill,” Florida’s Patric Hornqvist said. “They pressure us all over the ice, it’s hard to settle down pucks. But at the same time, we have to get open for each other.”
Chris Driedger made 19 saves in the loss.
“The games have all been close, but I wouldn’t call this one close, for sure,” Florida head coach Joel Quenneville said. “They’re a good hockey team. They don’t give you much room and you’ve got to be ready to play that type of game.”
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