Andersen gets 1st shutout of season, Hurricanes blank Panthers

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Frederik Andersen made 21 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0 at PNC Arena on Thursday.

Andersen was playing in his third game since missing 50 with a blood clotting issue.

“It feels good, obviously a nice little cherry on top,” Andersen said. “I’m having fun. I don’t show it too much, but I’m loving it out there. It’s really fun being in this room with everyone. I’m sure we’ll go through some ups and downs, but it’s really fun to be with the guys.”

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first goal, and Jake Guentzel got his first assist with the Hurricanes (40-20-6), who have won four of their past five games. Jaccob Slavin had two assists.

“Everyone played well. That’s what you have to do in a game like that,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Overall, it was a good effort.”

It was Kuznetsov's fourth game since being acquired by the Hurricanes from the Washington Capitals for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday. Guentzel, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 7, got his first point in his second game with Carolina.

“I understand why I’m here and why this team brought me,” Kuznetsov said. “They need us to perform and they need us eventually to get the points and goals to help the team. I felt like today was the day we had to step up. It was a dry three games for me, so it was very important. I had fun tonight.”

Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves for the Panthers (45-18-4), who had won two in a row.

“We had some pucks come into our end that normally we would transition out probably a little sharper,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “I just don’t think we moved the puck as a group particularly well tonight, so it was hard to generate a whole heck of a lot. We don’t love the game. They won it, move on.”

The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead with 49 seconds remaining in the first period. After Panthers defenseman Josh Mahura poked the puck off the stick of Jordan Staal, Seth Jarvis scored glove side with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

“The last few games we got scored on late in the period. We know how that feels,” Jarvis said. “It was nice having the lead coming out of the locker room. I think everyone knew we needed a little bit better in the second, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The Panthers had the edge in play and a 10-4 advantage in shots through 14 minutes of the first, but the Hurricanes outshot them 8-0 the rest of the period.

“You know mentally it’s going to be a tight-checking affair,” Florida forward Sam Reinhart said. “That first one is so important. They were able to extend it and take that momentum into the second period.”

Martin Necas put Carolina up 2-0 at 2:46 of the second period. Bobrovsky stopped Dmitry Orlov’s shot from the left circle, but Necas one-timed the rebound from the right circle inside the left post. Guentzel had the secondary assist on the play.

Kuznetsov made it 3-0 at 8:27. Jalen Chatfield made a long pass from the right point to Kuznetsov, who held the puck in the left circle before beating Bobrovsky blocker side.

“I wanted to pass to [Necas] on the back door,” Kuznetsov said. “I heard the people from the bench screaming, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot.” It was a good pass by ‘Chatie.' I knew the defenseman (Oliver Ekman-Larsson) was going to block the shot and I knew that nobody was coming from behind.”

Andrei Svechnikov scored an empty-net goal at 15:42 of the third period for the 4-0 final.

NOTES: Florida forward Sam Bennett missed the game with an undisclosed injury, and Evan Rodrigues missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling had his point streak end at five games. … Andersen is 5-0-0 with a 1.58 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in five games at home this season. … Carolina shut out the Panthers 1-0 at PNC Arena in their previous meeting on Feb. 22.