National Hockey League
Florida 4, Carolina 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 24, 2021
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida
Referees: Frederick L'Ecuyer, Pierre Lambert
Linesmen: Jesse Marquis, Libor Suchanek
Attendance: 4838

Aleksander Barkov scored 24 seconds into overtime as the host Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in Sunrise, Fla.

The Panthers trailed 3-1 early in the third period before mounting a comeback.

It was only Florida's second win in the eight game season series as Carolina went 6-0-2 against the Panthers (31-13-5, 67 points).

Carolina (31-10-6, 68 points) opened the scoring in the first period, getting a point shot from Dougie Hamilton that hit two Florida skaters before going past Chris Driedger at 3:25.

The Panthers tied the score at 1 with 24.9 seconds left in the opening period on MacKenzie Weegar's one-timer from a Jonathan Huberdeau pass. Weegar ended up with assists on Florida's other two regulation goals.

Hamilton later made it 2-1 on another long shot, this one coming on Carolina's second power play chance 1:37 into the second.

Carolina opened it to a 3-1 lead early in the third period when Brett Pesce's shot was kicked off the skate of teammate Andrei Svechnikov and past goalie Chris Driedger at 3:04.

But then came the Panthers.

Florida made it 3-2 less than two minutes later when Gustav Forsling scored from inside the left circle.

At 6:20 of the third, the Panthers tied the game on a short-handed goal from Alex Wennberg as he scored on a rebound.

Driedger got the win for the Panthers by making 16 saves. Carolina rookie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 32 in the loss.

Carolina ended up 1-for-5 on the power play on Saturday night. The Panthers were 0-for-4 on Saturday and 1-for-13 in the two-game series.

Florida defenseman Keith Yandle moved into sole possession of second place for consecutive games played in NHL history.

Yandle, who owns the league's active ‘Ironman' streak, passed Garry Unger by playing in his 915th consecutive game Saturday. If Yandle continues to play, he could pass Doug Jarvis (964) for the league mark next season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Carolina   Florida
Dougie Hamilton 2 Points MacKenzie Weegar 4
Dougie Hamilton 2 Goals MacKenzie Weegar 1
Sebastian Aho 2 Assists MacKenzie Weegar 3
Dougie Hamilton 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals Alex Wennberg 1
Alex Nedeljkovic .889 Save Percentage Chris Driedger .842
Alex Nedeljkovic 32 Saves Chris Driedger 16
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Carolina 19 3 1-5 4-4 8 40
Florida 36 4 0-4 4-5 10 24
Upcoming Games
  • Florida will play their next game on the road against Nashville. The Panthers have a W/L % of .567 after a win and .737 after a loss.
  • Carolina will play their next game on the road against Dallas. The Hurricanes have a W/L % of .645 after a win and .667 after a loss.