5 Takeaways: Hurricanes Hand Panthers Rare Regulation Loss

Off to one of their best starts in franchise history, the Panthers came away empty handed for just the fifth time this season with a 4-2 loss to the Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Sunday night.
Despite the defeat, Florida's five regulation losses are still the third-fewest in the NHL.

"You look at our season to date and we've been pretty pleased with the compete level and the battle level, but today we weren't great in that area," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said.
Taking advantage of some disciplinary miscues on the part of the Panthers, Carolina's third-ranked power play converted on one of its three opportunities with the man advantage in the first period when Vincent Trocheck slid in a shot from on the doorstep to make it 1-0 at 15:55.
At 4:52 of the second period, Nino Niederreiter put the Hurricanes on top 2-0 when he took a pass from Martin Necas and wired a shot from the left circle into the twine. A little less than six minutes later, however, the Panthers would answer with a timely goal from MacKenzie Weegar.
Receiving the puck below the blue line after Noel Acciari won an offensive-zone faceoff, Weegar blasted a slap shot through traffic and past James Reimer to cut Florida's deficit to 2-1 at 10:41.
"They're a well-structured team," Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. "It's always tough to play against them. It was kind of one of these games, a back-to-back. Obviously, we're going to lose some, but we've just got to be more ready when they come to our building next game."
Although the Panthers started the third period on the power play, it was the Hurricanes that took advantage on special teams. With Jaccob Slavin sending Carolina up ice on a 2-on-1 break with a marathon stretch pass, Sebastian Aho kept the puck on his stick and sniped a shot past Chris Driedger's blocker for a shorthanded goal to make it 3-1 just 38 seconds after the puck dropped.
Driedger finished with 22 saves, while Reimer stopped 21 of 23 shots.
Not long after that, Warren Foegele shook off a penalty and buried a partial breakaway at 3:41 to increase Carolina's lead to 4-1. At 9:09, Mason Marchment then brought the Panthers back within two goals when he buried a slick cross-ice feed from Huberdeau to make it a 4-2 game.
With the defeat, the Panthers (15-5-4) saw their point streak come to an end at five games and now trail the Hurricanes (17-6-1) by one point for second place in the very tight Central Division.
"We had a little life there when we had it going again, but didn't get it to 4-3," Quenneville said. "It was one of those nights where over the course of the season there's a couple games where, you know, whether it's fatigue or scheduling that caught up to you. I'm not making excuses, but tonight we weren't great."
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's loss in Raleigh…

1. WEEGAR BURIES ONE

Talk about a hole in one.
Winding up after Acciari won a faceoff back to him, Weegar ripped a shot that flew past a few bodies and right through Reimer's five-hole to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10:41 of the middle frame.

"It doesn't get much better than that," Weegar said. "I just closed my eyes and pounded [the puck] as hard as I can. Luckily, it went through Reimer's five-hole. I'll take that any given night."
The other half of Florida's top-defensive pairing alongside Aaron Ekblad, Weegar is playing the best hockey of his career right now. Leading the team's blueliners in both points (11) and total minutes at even strength (463:46), the 27-year-old also boasts a +6 rating through 24 games.

2. MARCHMENT NETS ANOTHER

Marchment keeps finding his way onto the scoresheet.
Netting his second goal in the last three games, he took a sweet cross-ice feed from Huberdeau and simply lifted the puck into the exposed twine to make it a 4-2 game at 9:09 of the third period.

"He's a smart player," Huberdeau said. "He gets in there and gets in the right spots."
Lacing up his skates in six straight games since being recalled from the Taxi Squad on Feb. 25, Marchment has registered a point in all but one of those contests. Making an impression on the coaching staff, the 25-year-old forward also earned time on the top line late in tonight's game.
In seven games this season, Marchment has tallied five points (two goals, three assists).
"He's moving around the lineup and getting some quality looks based on his efforts and his ability to make plays," Quenneville said. "It's been good progress for him, a good couple weeks."

3. IN SEARCH OF SHOTS

The shots were hard to come by tonight for the Cats.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Panthers mustered their third-fewest shots on goal (23) and shot attempts (45) so far this season against the Hurricanes. To put that number in a bit of perspective, they had just tallied 70 combined shots in their last two wins against the Predators.
"We didn't have much time to make plays," Huberdeau said of Carolina's ability to limit their attack during tonight's game. "That's probably why we didn't get many shots on goal tonight."
Swarming around the puck for 60 minutes, the Hurricanes also kept Florida's usually potent power play in check. In addition to surrendering a shorthanded tally, the Panthers challenged Reimer with just six shots on goal over the course of their five chances with the extra attacker.
Quenneville specifically pointed to Carolina's ability to disrupt zone entries as a problem.
"All of the sudden you're basically just trying to get possession, settle it down or get the zone time you're looking for," Quenneville said.

4. A MAJOR MILESTONE

Want to feel old?
When Keith Yandle made his NHL debut on Oct. 11, 2006, "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake was the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 and "The Departed" sat atop the U.S. box office. More than 14 years and numerous Timberlake hits later, Yandle skated in the 1,000th game of his career during tonight's battle against the Hurricanes. The 352nd player to reach that storied plateau, the Boston, Mass. native is also just the 19th U.S.-born defenseman to reach 1,000.
"I'm lucky every day just to be playing in the NHL and calling this a job," Yandle said following Friday's practice. "Never really had the goal, never really thought I'd even make it to the NHL, so it's kind of one of those things where I'm just enjoying the ride, enjoying every minute of it."

Of his 1,000 games, 339 have come with the Panthers, 103 with the Rangers and 558 with the Coyotes, who selected him in the fourth round (105th overall) of the 2005 draft. The NHL's active ironman, he's also skated in 890th consecutive games, which places him third on the all-time list.
Helping make his milestone even more special, Yandle's wife, two daughters and parents all made the trip to Raleigh to watch the game and were shown on the jumbotron in the first period.

5. HEADING TO COLUMBUS

After picking up the win in two of three games to start their road trip, the Panthers will now wrap up their five-game trek through the Central Division with two matchups against the Blue Jackets.
Opening up the two-game series at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET, Florida has posted a 1-0-1 record against Columbus this season. After winning 4-3 in a shootout on Jan. 26, the Panthers came up just short in the ensuing rematch, losing 3-2 in a shootout two days later.
Overall, Florida currently boasts an exceptional 8-2-1 record on the road.
"We've just got to get back to playing our game in the next one," Huberdeau said.