Recap: Canes Take Point In Overtime Loss To Florida

RALEIGH, NC. -The Carolina Hurricanes were able to pick up one of two available points Saturday night, ultimately falling to the Florida Panthers in overtime by a score of 4-3.

Playing their second game in as many days, the Canes called upon the services of Alex Lyon to start the game in net, taking the spot of Antti Raanta. Frederik Andersen's regular tandem partner was declared out pre-game due to an upper-body injury.
Unfortunately the evening began on a not so kind note for Lyon, as Jonathan Huberdeau scored for Florida on his team's first shot of the game.
The early Florida lead would last just 2:29 though, as following a Panthers penalty to Eetu Luostarinen, Teuvo Teravainen was able to capitalize for the home side and knot things at 1-1.
Before the game reached the end of the opening 20 minutes Florida would retake their lead though, getting the first of back-to-back goals from Carter Verhaege. The first came in two-on-one fashion, trickling past Lyon after he caught a piece, but not enough of it. Taking a 2-1 lead into the second period it was then when Verhaege acted fast, doubling the lead for his team just 35 seconds into the middle frame.
Trailing by a pair the Canes offense had hit what was described post-game as a "stale patch", not generating much on offense. Rod Brind'Amour then began to mix up his forward combinations, most notably moving Seth Jarvis up to play alongside Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. The move did indeed spark some life, leading to a goal from Brady Skjei - his fourth in three games.

The goal came largely in part due to the work of Jordan Staal in the faceoff dot and the Canes trailed by just one heading into the all-important third period. Progressing along with the PNC Arena crowd behind them, Jarvis then chimed in on the scoring action, tying up the game with a burst of speed.

The sixth of the year for the 19-year-old came just 1:45 into the frame but was all that was needed to send the game to overtime. Both sides had two attempts each to strike on the man advantage, however neither could get the final fourth goal.
In the bonus three-on-three play, Florida struck gold 2:53 in, as Anthony Duclair buried after a Carolina turnover to end the night.
They Said It:
Rod Brind'Amour on how he thought his team played in the second half of a back-to-back:
"We were slow again tonight. Not good. We had a lot of guys that did not play... good, let's just leave it at that. It was tough to find a handful of guys that you could say 'wow, they're on their game tonight'. When you're playing a team like that and we're not sharp, that's going to be tough. I give the guys credit though, for just digging in a little. The third period was better for sure. That kind of started looking like a semblance of a game, but you can't just spot teams periods when you're not very good, that's not going to work."
Alex Lyon assessing his own performance this evening:
"I was proud of the fact that I let in a poor first goal and then was able to battle back. I made an effort to calm myself and have some mental toughness, so I feel proud of that. I didn't feel that sharp and I don't feel like I really played that well, but at the same time I felt like I was effective at stopping the puck. Which, sometimes, that's just how it goes, you're not always going to be perfect, technically, sometimes it's just about getting the job done. It turned into a little bit of that tonight, I wasn't super sharp, I was just trying to keep the puck out of the net. I feel like I was just alright."
Seth Jarvis on how the changing of the line combinations midway through the game provided a spark for the club:
"It's always nice when things were a little stale like the way they were in the first period. I don't think we did much of anything then. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot coming out like that. When Rod mixed up the lines everyone kind of just took a deep breath and it was a new sign of life. All lines just kind of woke up and tried to start getting us back into the game.
What's Next?:
Sunday is scheduled as an off day for the team, then they'll return to work Monday with a practice before playing to Philadelphia.
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