Primeau and two backhands sink the Panthers in a Raleigh shootout

Hurricanes 3, Panthers 2 (SO). Florida outshot a Carolina B-squad 33-26, went 0-for-4 on the power play, and lost a skills competition to two backhands. Preseason series split, and nobody in the room is losing sleep over it.

How it went

The Panthers brought the real lineup to Raleigh again. Carolina didn't. Rod Brind'Amour rested most of his stars and rolled prospects with a few vets like Mark Jankowski and Mike Reilly mixed in, per WRAL's Chris Lea.

Bokondji Imama set the tone before the game was three minutes old. He dropped the gloves with Bryce Montgomery at 2:32 of the first, five apiece. Imama drew into the lineup for Jack Devine and is fighting for the last forward spot, so that's a guy making his pitch in the most direct way possible.

Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring at 4:31 with a snap shot, Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov assisting. That's two preseason games and two goals for the newest Panther.

Bradly Nadeau answered at 7:00 for Carolina, with Reilly and Aleksi Heimosalmi picking up the helpers. Eighteen seconds later, Barkov put Florida back in front. Brady fed him on a two-on-one and Barkov wired a wrist shot past Brandon Bussi. Seth Jones picked up the second assist.

Justin Robidas tied it at 11:25 of the second with an unassisted snap shot. Then the goals stopped. Both teams swapped goalies at the 30:07 mark: Akira Schmid in for Jacob Markstrom, Cayden Primeau in for Bussi.

Florida got four power plays and did nothing with them. Carolina got five and did nothing with those either, including a man advantage in overtime after Jones tripped Charlie Cerrato at 3:42.

The shootout went five shooters. Primeau stopped Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe. Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum both went backhand on Schmid and both scored. Two backhands, two goals, game over.

Who stood out

Barkov: a goal, an assist, three shots, 18:11 of ice time, and he drew a holding call in the second. The captain looks like a guy who spent a year waiting to play hockey.

Primeau: 20 saves on 20 shots over the last 34:53 plus two more in the shootout. He stole a preseason game for Carolina's kids, which is a sentence we're happy to write about someone else's goalie.

Nadeau: a goal, the shootout winner, seven shots and 25:10 of ice time for a forward. He took the first star, with Robidas and Reilly behind him. Carolina is clearly finding out what it has.

Ferda play of the night: Imama, 2:32 of the first. New guy, roster spot on the line, picks a fight with a defenseman to announce himself. Maurice told Florida Hockey Now's George Richards he's "a powerful skater and heavy on the forecheck." Turns out he's heavy on the other stuff too.

Ferda take

The scoreboard says loss. The tape says Florida controlled the game with an NHL lineup against a farm team and got beat by a hot goalie and a skills contest. That's a preseason Tuesday.

The real note is the power play. Zero for four is the one thing Paul Maurice will actually care about on the plane home. Bennett and Verhaeghe were both stopped in the shootout too, so the finishing touch isn't there yet. It will be.

Markstrom and Schmid each stopped 12 of 13. Nothing to see there, which is exactly what you want from your goalies in September.

Next game

Thursday at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. ET. Then the Lightning come to Sunrise on Saturday. The season opener is Sept. 29 back in Raleigh, and Carolina will have its real roster for that one.