Saturday Florida NHL Round-Up

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Spencer Knight made 20 saves, Mackie Samoskevich scored with less than a second left in the second period, and the Florida Panthers got four goals in the third to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-0 on Saturday and complete a two-day sweep.

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues and Adam Boqvist also scored for Florida, which won 6-3 at Carolina on Friday. The Panthers have won three straight — that streak following a stretch of six losses in seven games for the Stanley Cup champions.

It was Knight’s fourth career shutout, his first since Nov. 9, 2022 — also at home against Carolina.

Spencer Martin made 23 saves on 28 shots for the Hurricanes, who have dropped four of their last six games (2-3-1). It was Martin’s fourth consecutive start for Carolina.

Takeaways

Hurricanes: This was the first time all season that the Hurricanes failed to get a point in the game immediately following a loss. Carolina was 4-0-1 after a defeat entering Saturday.

Panthers: A big day for Samoskevich — his alma mater Michigan beat Ohio State in football on Saturday, that game ending just before the Florida-Carolina game started. The Panthers are 5-0-0 when he scores this season. Sam Reinhart had each of the four most recent Florida goals at 19:59, before Samoskevich got his Saturday.

Key moment

The Panthers scored two goals 11 seconds apart in the third to make it 5-0, and Yaniv Perets replaced Martin in the Hurricanes’ net with 8:12 remaining. It was the second NHL appearance for Perets, who came on once in relief for Carolina last season.

Key stat

Ekblad’s goal was his first in a span of 1,045 regular-season shifts since Feb. 20.

Up next

Carolina starts a two-game homestand Tuesday against Seattle. Florida goes to Pittsburgh to start a two-game trip on Tuesday.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Auston Matthews picked up a pair of assists in his return to the lineup and Joseph Woll stopped 38 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night

Chris Tanev had a goal and an assist and Mitch Marner added two assists. Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson, John Tavares and William Nylander also scored for Toronto. 

Matthews assisted on Toronto’s first goal of the game scored by Knies and also on Nylander’s empty-net goal in the third period after missing nine games with an upper-body injury.

Mikey Eyssimont, Jake Guentzel and Cam Atkinson scored for Tampa Bay, which was without leading scorer Nikita Kucherov.

Toronto led 4-0 in the third before the Lightning scored three goals in just over a six minute span, cutting its deficit to a goal with 2:22 left.

Takeaways

Maple Leafs: Toronto has allowed two or fewer goals in seven of the past 11 games. … The Leafs are 207-36-36 all-time when both Matthews and Marner register a point in the same game.

Lightning: Victor Hedman recorded two assists to become the franchise leader with 590 career assists, passing Marty St. Louis. … Kucherov is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. Kucherov missed the second period on Friday in Nashville, but returned for the third period and overtime.

Key moment

Robertson scored 33 seconds after Chris Tanev to give the Maple Leafs a 3-0 lead at 8:39 of the second period. The goal was the first for Robertson since October 22, a span of 19 games.

Key stat

Maple Leafs RW Mitch Marner reached the 30-point mark to become the fourth player in franchise history with at least 30 points in each their first nine seasons, joining Dave Keon, Mats Sundi and Borje Salming.

Up next

Toronto hosts Chicago on Monday to open a three-game homestand. Tampa Bay hosts San Jose on Thursday.