Hurricanes beat Panthers 6-4 to win Metropolitan Division
By GEORGE RICHARDS
Associated Press
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brent Burns scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes scored four times in the third period to beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 to win the Metropolitan Division. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jesper Fast, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho also scored for the Hurricanes, who began the night one point ahead of New Jersey atop the division. Frederick Andersen finished with 31 saves. Carolina will open the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the New York Islanders. Aleksander Barkov, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Florida, which began the night one point behind the Islnders for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. Alex Lyon had 30 saves. The Panthers will face league-best Boston in the first round of the playoffs.