Thursday, February 21, 2019 07:00 PM (ET)

Hurricanes’ Williams uses his face to help beat Panthers

Field Level Media
Aug 17, 2012

Justin Williams scored two goals -- including one that hit him in the face -- to help the Carolina Hurricanes rally to a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night at Sunrise, Fla.

Williams, who also had an assist, left the ice bleeding after he scored Carolina's first goal -- off his right cheekbone. He quickly returned with gauze in his nose and then scored Carolina's fourth goal, giving the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead with 17:45 left in the third.

It was Williams' first two-goal game of the season, and he has 17 goals this season, tied for second on the team.

The Panthers, who had their three-game win streak snapped, got three straight second-period goals in a span of 4:15, from Evgenii Dadonov, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.

That gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead, but Carolina rallied with two third-period goals, from Justin Faulk and Williams. Nino Niederreiter scored Carolina's other goal.

Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek, who had shutouts in two of his three previous starts, made 27 saves to earn the win.

Panthers backup goalie James Reimer (21 saves) made his fourth straight start and had his three-game win streak snapped.

Carolina opened the scoring on Williams' goal with 5:12 gone in the first period. Williams tried to deflect Brett Pesce, but the puck caught him in the face and bounced into the net, between Reimer's pads.

The Hurricanes went up 2-0 with 4:35 gone in the second period. Williams' shot from the point was stopped, but Niederreiter pounced on the rebound.

Florida got on the board with 6:53 expired in the second period as Vincent Trocheck forced a turnover along the boards. Jayce Hawryluk picked up the loose puck behind the net and fed Dadonov in the slot.

The Panthers tied the score 2-2 less than three minutes later on Barkov's power-play goal.

A Carolina penalty -- Sebastian Aho called for slashing Trocheck -- led to Huberdeau's power-play goal at the 11:08 mark, giving Florida a 3-2 lead.

Carolina got the lead back, 4-3, with those goals by Faulk and Williams, which came 1:56 apart to start the third period.

The Panthers had two extra attackers -- pulling Reimer and getting a power play -- for the final 29 seconds but failed to score.

--Field Level Media

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