FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. CAROLINA HURRICANES
APRIL 24, 2021
BB&T Center – Sunrise, Fla.
| FLORIDA PANTHERS | CAROLINA HURRICANES |
| 4 | 3 |
[OVERTIME]
- The Panthers overcame a 3-1 third period deficit to improve to 31-13-5, and have won seven of their past eight games at BB&T Center.
- The comeback marked Florida’s third multi-goal third-period comeback victory of the season, trailing only BOS (4) for most by any NHL team this season.
- With the win, the Cats improved to 8-3 in overtime. Their eight OT wins are the most among NHL teams.
- Aleksander Barkov scored his fifth career overtime game-winning goal, extending his goal streak to three games (4-0-4). He has amassed nine goals and 12 points (9-3-12) over his past 12 contests.
- With Barkov’s fifth career OT-goal, he joins Olli Jokinen (10), Aaron Ekblad (5) and Stephen Weiss (5) as the only players in franchise history to score five goals in OT.
- Barkov led FLA with 23:58 TOI.
- MacKenzie Weegar recorded a career-high four points (1-3-4), tied for the most points by a Panthers defenseman in a regular season game in franchise history. He is the second Panthers defenseman to do so this season (Aaron Ekblad, 2-2-4, March 4 vs. NSH).
- Weegar is the seventh defenseman in franchise history to have registered four points in a game joining Jay Bouwmeester, Brian Campbell, Aaron Ekblad, Bret Hedican, Bryan McCabe and Keith Yandle.
- Weegar also tied his career-high with four shots on goal, blocked seven shots and registered seven hits. Weegar’s seven blocked shots are the most by a Panther this season and tied for the fifth-most blocked shots in a game by a Panther since the NHL began tracking blocked shots in 2005-06.
- Chris Driedger registered his 13th win of the season and added an assist on the OT-winner. He is the fourth goaltender in club history to record an assist on an OTG (Ed Belfour, March 1, 2007 | Roberto Luongo, March 11, 2004 | John Vanbiesbrouck, Nov. 22, 1996).
- Jonathan Huberdeau posted two assists, extending his point streak to seven games (2-8-10), tying the longest point streak by a Panther this season (MacKenzie Weegar, 1-8-9 from March 7-20).
- Gustav Forsling tallied his fourth goal of the season and led FLA’s defensemen with 23:34 TOI.
- Alex Wennberg scored his second career shorthanded goal, Florida’s third this season.
- Sam Bennett notched an assist and led FLA with six shots on goal.
- Anthony Duclair posted an assist and tied for the team lead with a +3 rating. He has produced at least one point in eight of his past nine games (3-8-11).
- Florida out-shot Carolina 36-19.
PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES – APRIL 24, 2021
Head Coach Joel Quenneville
“I thought Weegs [defenseman MacKenzie Weegar] was special tonight. He did a lot of good things…scoring goals, defending the net well, going into puck areas. I think he’s had a very strong year. He keeps adding to the success of our team by his contributions.”
“I felt a lot of passion, a lot of emotion on the bench. It was very intense…I still think that determination and that perseverance found its way in the right place. I thought tonight was as high as we’d had it. You can tell that playoffs are just around the corner.”
“Barky [forward Aleksander Barkov] and Huby [forward Jonathan Huberdeau] has been very productive for us as the season has progressed. It was one of those situations where we can’t beat that team in regulation we’ll take the two points.”
“I think that Barky [forward Aleksander Barkov] has had a tremendous year, whether it’s controlling shifts or dominating possession. I know he’s had some different linemates over the last three weeks and he still finds a way to be productive and scoring big goals. He’s competitive and he does all the things you’re looking for. Can’t say enough about the contribution we are getting from Barky.”
Forward Alex Wennberg
“At this point of the season, we’ve got to win these games, especially against Carolina which is a team we’re battling for position with. I feel like we got some momentum there scoring that goal, and then we just took over in the third period…All that matters is the win, and we got it tonight.”
“They’re a really good team, and it’s good to get some confidence winning against them. It just shows that you can win against every team. If we see them in the future, we’re excited for that opportunity.”
“There’s not really a secret to it. We’ve talked about being a little bit more aggressive, skating a bit more. If we go to the net we get rewarded, and it’s just building momentum.”
Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar
“Huge win for us. Lots of emotions coming in before the game. We really wanted to win this one. Credit to everybody that played tonight, I think we battled hard…I’m pretty happy with the way the boys played tonight.”
“I think (Alex Wennberg’s) shorthanded goal gave us a lot of momentum. Q [Head Coach Joel Quenneville] talked about it last game, it was the opposite on us. It really changed the momentum of a game and I think after that we just kept rolling shift by shift. I think that really helped us.”
“I felt good tonight. I just felt really determined. (Carolina) is a top team in the league and they’ve had our number all year. I just didn’t want to lose, I wanted to make a statement. If we see them in the playoffs, I just want them to know that we can beat you. I’m happy that we won.”
Forward Aleksander Barkov
“(Tonight’s win) does a lot. We were battling with this challenge all year, trying to find ways to stick with it, to win the games. We never gave up, even in the games where we didn’t come up the points. Finally got the result, but this is only the regular season and if you want to go all the way, there’s going to be games like this so you have to be ready. This one was good practice for that.”
“Weegs [defenseman MacKenzie Weegar] is a really smart player. He’s doing all the right things all the time. It was just a matter of time that he was going to step up to this level. He’s been really good, he has everything that a great defenseman needs. He’s been great for us and we’re really happy to have him playing for us and playing those big minutes.”
“[Forward Sam Bennett] is another great addition to our team, he’s doing it all. Those type of players are huge and crucial when you go into the playoffs, they can do it all: defense, offense, penalty kill, power play. He’s been really good for us.”
