The regular season came to a close for the Florida Panthers on Saturday with a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The win gives Florida a franchise-record 47 wins along with another franchise-best 103 points. The Panthers finished only one point behind the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference.
Florida is headed to the playoffs as the Atlantic Division champions, and ending the regular season on a high note is a positive. The Panthers head into the next phase of the year with their offense looking well-balanced, and Roberto Luongo appearing focused.
The Panthers received contributions from many different players in the win showing the depth and strength of the team. Among the names to take part in Saturday's win were players who did it all season long, and those acquired at the trade deadline. Florida has managed to work around a potentially crippling injury to Vincent Trocheck due in part to its depth.
It only took 1:39 seconds for Teddy Purcell to put Florida up 1-0 in the first period. Purcell's 14th goal of the season had assists on it from Jiri Hudler and Rocco Grimaldi. The score was just the first of three in the first period for Florida.
Roughly two minutes later, Jussi Jokinen's 18th goal of the season doubled Florida's lead. The goal had assists on it from Nick Bjugstad and Dmitry Kulikov.
The quick scoring continued when Aaron Ekblad's 15th goal of the season found the back of the net at the 7:40 mark. Ekblad was helped out on the goal by Hudler and Purcell.
Local
Florida apparently wasn't satisfied with a three-goal lead as Jonathan Huberdeau made it 4-0 early into the second period. Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov assisted Huberdeau with his 20th goal of the season.
Reilly Smith would add on an empty net goal with six seconds remaining in the game. The bonus score was unassisted.
Luongo wrapped up his season with a 24-save performance after having 26save attempts. Florida's goalie heads into the playoffs after allowing only three goals in his last two games combined.
