"Skunked and Sunburnt": 2024-25 Regular Season, Game 24: Hurricanes at Florida Panthers

The Hurricanes look to bounce back against the Panthers in Sunrise after Florida used an explosive third period to beat the Canes 6-3 in Raleigh on Friday. After Spencer Martin had a rough afternoon, Rod Brind'Amour went back to him on Saturday. It marks the first time a Canes goalie has played on consecutive days in two years. With both teams playing the second half of a back-to-back, they were in the same boat as they battled at the home of the defending champions.

Scoring Summary
1st Period
None
2nd Period
FLA (6:42)- Aaron Ekblad (1) (unassisted) 
FLA (19:59)- Mackie Samoskevich (5) PP (Matthew Tkachuk (13) & Aleksander Barkov (18))
3rd Period
FLA (8:19)- Sam Bennett (12) (Eetu Luostarinen (8) & Anton Lundell (11))
FLA (11:37)- Aleksander Barkov (6) PP (Matthew Tkachuk (14) & Sam Reinhart (16))
FLA (11:48)- Adam Boqvist (1) (AJ Greer (5)) 
FLA (13:01)- Evan Rodrigues (6) PP (Nate Schmidt (5) & Carter Verhaeghe (13))

My Thoughts
Let's get this out of the way early: this loss isn't on Spencer Martin and I refuse to hear anything on the contrary. Was this another bad stat line for Martin? Yep. Do I put any of the five goals he allowed on him? On the fifth one, though the first one was a bit weird. He wanted goalie interference to negate the opening goal from Aaron Ekblad, but it was clear that Jaccob Slavin was more to blame than any Panther. The team defense, especially in the third period, gave him little to work with. He was tremendous during the first period and most of the second. Once the Panthers scored the power-play goal with 0.8 seconds left in the middle frame, that's when the game turned on its head. Still, Martin had to turn into a one-man crew and that could only last for so long.

The Panthers scored their four goals in the third period within five minutes, putting the game out of reach very quickly. Still, the Hurricanes provided little resistance in the defensive zone and weren't allowed to do anything offensively. The Canes were outshot 16-2 during the final 20 minutes, never mounting a serious threat to the Panthers' lead. Once Same Bennett scored, I knew it was over, yet the Panthers continued to add on. It made life for Spencer Knight easy as he earned a painless 20-save shutout, the first against the Canes this season.

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Was starting Spencer Martin the right choice? I can make arguments for both sides. I wanted to see Yaniv Perets get the start, but the head coach opted against it. If I didn't know any better, it would make me think that Rod Brind'Amour doesn't trust Perets to go an entire game, but there's nothing to suggest that is the case. The worst thing that could've happened is that Perets starts, he gets lit up, and Martin has to come in to relieve him. Instead, we got the opposite. It was good to see Perets get some action. Outside of allowing his first NHL, which wasn't his fault, he made some good stops to keep the deficit from inflating. Martin starting suggests that Pyotr Kochetkov should be good by Tuesday, even if he doesn't start until Thursday. 

Thanksgiving Week's ending might feel like a major disappointment, but the Canes survived a tough week by earning four of eight points against high-quality opponents. A split with the Panthers might've made it a better week, but that moment has passed. Still, considering they were playing with their third-string goalie the entire time, it's about as good as you could've hoped for. Most importantly, they beat the New York Rangers. Florida exposed some serious issues that need to be ironed out, but the Canes will have a little time to change it up before Tuesday.

When We Meet Again- The Hurricanes will have to stew on this loss for a little over a month before getting their chance at revenge. The Panthers host the Canes for the first game of the new year on January 2nd.

#RaiseUp First Star of the Game- No One
In the spirit of the Canes being shut out, I'm not electing a player of the game for the Hurricanes. 

The Road Ahead- December is a much kinder month for the Hurricanes, especially with how spread out their games are. They won't play a back-to-back until before Christmas and there are several two-day breaks sprinkled between games to prevent the team from working too hard. Six of the first seven games are in Raleigh, beginning on Tuesday and Thursday against Seattle and Colorado, respectively.

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