Hurricanes 5, Panthers 1: Riley Nash and Alexander Semin scored 87 seconds apart midway through the first period, sparking host Carolina to a rout of Florida.

Defensemen Brett Bellemore and Andrej Sekera also tallied and Jiri Tlusty scored as the Hurricanes won for the sixth time in eight games. Jeff Skinner collected a pair of assists and Anton Khudobin, making his 15th start in 16 games, turned aside 34 shots to improve to 14-5-0.

Nick Bjugstad scored the only goal for the Panthers, who fell to 1-5-0 in their last six games. Tim Thomas allowed four goals on 14 shots before giving way to Scott Clemmensen, who made 17 saves.

Carolina got on the scoreboard at 9:17 of the opening period when Tuomo Ruutu intercepted a pass along the right boards and flicked a backhand pass to Nash, who beat Thomas glove side with a high wrist shot. Semin continued his recent tear with a turnaround shot from the high slot for his eighth goal in his last 10 games.

Bjugstad cut the deficit in half with 4 1/2 minutes left in the period by converting rebound that trickled through Khudobin, but Bellemore answered with a blast from just inside the edge of the right circle circle. Tlusty picked up a gimme just over 4 1/2 minutes into the second period, tapping a rebound of captain Eric Staal's shot into an open net to end Thomas' night.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ruutu celebrated his 600th career game with the assist on Nash's opening tally. ... Thomas has surrendered at least three goals in eight of his last 10 starts. ... Bellemore hit the scoresheet for the first time in nine games and notched his first goal since Nov. 21. ... Hurricanes D John-Michael Liles suffered a lower-body injury.