RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes opened their weekend with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at PNC Arena on Saturday.
The Hurricanes’ Russian duo carried the load as Alexander Semin scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner, while goaltender Anton Khudobin made 37 saves to earn his seventh win of the season.
Semin was not immediately available for comment in the dressing room after the game to get his reaction to helping his team start an 11-game stretch before the Olympic break with a win.
Even his fellow countryman didn’t have an idea how relieved he was in scoring for the first time since a 2-1 win over Nashville on Jan. 5.
“No he didn’t say anything to me,” Khudobin said when asked if Semin said anything to him in Russian after scoring his first goal in the game.
“But after he scored first goal, he said something, but I didn’t hear. I was too far (away).”
Khudobin’s former teammate in Boston, Panthers goalie Tim Thomas, also put forth an exceptional effort in making 36 saves to keep the two teams’ first meeting of the season close throughout the full 60 minutes of play.
As both goalies kept the puck out of their respective nets for the entire first period, the way in which they did it set the tone for what would become an energetic contest for the remaining periods that kept all 15,476 fans in attendance cheering until the final horn.
“We talked about let’s get off to a good start and set the tempo,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said.
“We had a good start and good first period.”
The Hurricanes used a four-day gap in between games to prepare while seeking to end a two-game scoring drought.
The Panthers also came into the game looking to score after being shut out 3-0 the night before by the San Jose Sharks.
As both teams skated from end to end throughout the opening period, it became evident that this game would be won or lost in the nets.
Carolina got its first power play opportunity at 13:38 as Jonathan Huberdeau went off for holding.
As the Hurricanes hovered around his net, Thomas turned away a tic-tac-toe setup between Semin, Elias Lindholm and Eric Staal and showed that he was ready to battle to keep his team in the game.
Thomas also got some help from his post as Nathan Gerbe soon followed up with a shot as the man-advantage opportunity was ending.
However, Florida captain Ed Jovanovski wrapped his stick around the Hurricanes forward’s shield and gave Carolina another power play opportunity.
Thomas literally stood on his head as he continued to stop more shots and attempts to score as Semin, Staal, Jeff Skinnner and Lindholm hovered around his net through the second man-advantage sequence.
His most impressive save came when he robbed Jordan Staal on a point-blank shot in the slot that looked as though it would break the tie with just under 10 minutes to play in the period.
Thomas flashed the leather of his glove and made the save to keep the game scoreless.
At the other end, Khudobin was equal to the task as he stuffed Aleksander Barkov of an opportunity to score by closing the gap between his pads well outside of his crease.
With seven minutes left, Skinner rung a shot off the Thomas’s right post before the netminder slid across his crease to stop a one-timer from Semin inside the opposite face-off dot.
The opening period also featured its share of physicality as Jordan Staal launched Barkov halfway over the boards by the Hurricanes bench as play continued on.
With 56 seconds left, Hurricanes forward Jiri Tlusty was assessed a cross-checking penalty which gave the Panthers their first power play opportunity.
Even while the Panthers peppered Khudobin with shots, both teams skated into the first intermission still scoreless with Carolina outshooting Florida 15-13.
While Khudobin held his ground to fend off the remaining Panthers’ power play to start the second period, Riley Nash opened the game’s scoring soon after at the 3:37 mark.
After intercepting a clearing attempt at the blue line, Hurricanes winger Radek Dvorak wired a shot towards Thomas during which the puck deflected off defenseman Tom Gilbert’s stick and off the goalie’s pad before ending up on Nash’s blade and making it easy for him to tuck it into the open net.
Just under four minutes later, while the Hurricanes were killing a four-minute high sticking penalty to Dvorak, Thomas made another big pad save on a shorthanded shot attempt from Eric Staal to keep the score at 1-0.
At the other end, Hurricanes defenseman Mike Komisarek made a last second puck strip on Sean Bergenheim to deny him a shot on Khudobin.
Similar to Thomas, the Russian netminder got his share of help from his hardware as Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov rung a shot of the same post that Skinner dented in the first period, above Khudobin’s shoulder, as the best attempt to score with the man-advantage deflected away from the net.
As Khudobin worked hard behind a scrambling defensive corps, the Panthers finally evened the score at 1-1 with 4:55 remaining as Marcel Goc tucked away a floating puck that Jonathan Huberdeau backhanded towards the net.
After two periods of play, both teams were still tied.
Semin then gave Carolina a 2-1 lead by scoring his seventh goal of the season at the 2:31 mark of the third period.
Eric Staal won the draw cleanly back to Semin who wasted no time in lining up a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to Thomas’ right that beat him high and over his glove hand.
As Khudobin continued to make stops early in the period, the Hurricanes caught a break six minutes later on the penalty kill after Semin deflected a pass attempt at his blue line that ended up on Staal’s stick.
Staal saw Semin streaking towards center ice and slid a backhand pass onto his stick that sent him on a breakaway towards the Florida net.
As Semin approached Thomas, he brought the puck across to his backhand before quickly going to his forehand and catching Thomas sliding across his crease to the left post.
At that point, he tucked his shot low towards the opening in Thomas’ pads, and as a result, the puck ended up deflecting off the keeper’s right skate before going into the net and giving the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead with 11:03 to play.
“It was nice to see him score a couple,” Staal said of Semin’s effort.
“With any offensive guy, it’s always nice to see him hit the back of the net and get the confidence up. I think for our line it was good and we gotta’ build off of it.”
Even while trailing by two goals, Florida continued to press deep in the Carolina zone and reaped the reward for the effort.
As the puck slid around the side boards, Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov took a point shot that deflected off what appeared to be Tomas Kopecky’s stick while Jordan Staal hung over him.
Somehow, the puck ended up deflecting off of them both, more specifically off Staal when reviewed, and sailed over Khudobin’s shoulder into the net.
Holding onto the one goal lead, the Hurricanes kept up their aggressive forecheck and continued to pressure Thomas and the Panthers with shots on net which included Gerbe almost scoring the insurance marker when his attempt rang off the post with 1:37 to play.
For the final minute of play, with Thomas on the bench for the extra attacker, the Panthers made an exceptional effort to tie the game, but Carolina successfully defended each shot attempt to earn the win in regulation.
“We’re gonna’ be in a lot of tight games,” Muller said.
“Tonight’s exactly what a lot of games are gonna’ be like. We gotta’ play in these tight games and have confidence in it. Guys that are game-breakers and can score that key goal, we have them in our lineup. We need them in these big games comin’ up. Tonight it was Sems gettin’ the big goals at the right time. When your top guys do that, that’s the extra little tool or weapon you can have and use, and you need it to make the difference of two points, one point, some nights.”