Tuomo Ruutu scored twice in a 1:28 span in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes roared back to beat the Florida Panthers, 4-3, on Wednesday night.

Trailing 3-0 after an abysmal first period, Carolina began chipping away at the deficit on Erik Cole's goal with less than six minutes left in the second period. Jamie McBain's first of the season seven minutes into the third made it a one-goal game, and Ruutu tied it at 12:20.

Ruutu completed the comeback with an unassisted marker at 13:48 as the Hurricanes improved to 3-1-1 in December.

Sergei Samsonov and rookie Jeff Skinner added two assists apeice for Carolina while Justin Peters stopped 21 shots to earn the win in relief of Cam Ward, who was yanked just 1:43 into the first period after surrendering two goals on five shots.

Evgeny Dadonov notched his first career NHL goal for the Panthers, opening the scoring just 29 seconds into the game. Michael Frolik and Bryan McCabe also had goals while Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves in defeat.

Wednesday's game marked the first time in nine meetings that the road team earned the victory.