(Sunrise) The Florida Panthers matched the best start to the season in National Hockey League (NHL) history after 11 games and handed the Carolina Hurricanes a first loss this season.
Spencer Knight made 28 saves for the Panthers (10-0-1), who tied the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabers with 21 points after the first 11 games of the season.
Anthony Duclair scored two goals and had two assists in the victory.
For their part, the Hurricanes (9-1-0) tried to join the Toronto Maple Leafs of 1993-94 and the Buffalo Sabers of 2006-2007, the only teams to have maintained a record of 10-0-0 in start of the season.
In their first nine games, the Hurricanes had never trailed by more than two goals, but against the Panthers, they found themselves in a 4-0 deficit in the first period. They never got over it.
Frank Vatrano, Anton Lundell and Patric Hornqvist were the Panthers’ other scorers. Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour had two assists each.
The Panthers were playing without their captain Aleksander Barkov, who had an injured lower body. The team also improved their record to 3-0-1 in four games under interim head coach Andrew Brunette. The latter took over behind the bench following the resignation of Joel Quenneville due to his involvement in the sexual assault scandal involving one of his deputies during his time in charge of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Vincent Trocheck scored a goal and collected an assist for the Hurricanes. Jesper Fast scored the other goal for the losing side.
Duclair scored the game’s first power-play goal in the third minute of play. He then had two assists before the end of the period. He completed the scoring by scoring in an empty net at the end of the third period.
For the Hurricanes, goaltender Frederik Andersen was taken out of the game after the first period, allowing four goals on 14 shots. His working night was not over, however, as he had to take over for Antti Raanta in the middle of the second period when the goalkeeper collided with Ryan Lomberg.
Raanta had come out very far from his reserved zone to join a free puck in the face-off circle to his left. Lomberg, on the other hand, was heading in the opposite direction to reach the puck. He hit the keeper head-on. Raanta sustained an upper body injury and Lomberg received a five-minute major penalty as well as game misconduct.
Andersen conceded his first loss of the season in nine starts. He was looking to join Jack Campbell (11 wins in 2020-21), Carey Price (10 wins in 2016-17) and Félix Potvin (nine wins in 1993-1994), who are the only goaltenders to have won their first nine starts in ‘a season.