Martinook’s first career hat trick spurs Canes past Panthers 4-1

The Carolina Hurricanes traded for Jordan Martinook this year, looking to bring in a veteran forward, a character guy, a gritty player who could kill penalties and maybe score some goals along the way.

Martinook scored some Friday. His three goals and first career hat trick, combined with a power-play score from Teuvo Teravainen and goalie Curtis McElhinney’s 34 saves carried the Canes to a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at PNC Arena.

McElhinney made his third straight start as Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour elected to ride the hot goalie as the Canes (11-8-3) closed their six-game homestand with a 4-1-1 record. Troy Brouwer scored for the Panthers in the third period but only after the Canes had built a 3-0 lead.

The crowd was lively Friday, breaking out into The Wave in the third period -- “It was nuts,” a smiling Martinook said. Canes fans again enjoyed the post-game celebration, which had the players lining up by jersey number, then tumbling one by one to the ice in a domino effect.

“In the past we’ve always had a long homestand and it hasn’t gone well,” Brind’Amour said. “I really just wanted to concentrate on one game, one game. ... It turned out to be a pretty good homestand, if you look back on it now. We really tried to keep it simple here, a shift at a time, a period at a time, and not make a big picture of the whole thing.”

The Panthers (8-9-3) had a scary moment late in the first period, with veteran goalie Roberto Luongo down on the ice.

Luongo was injured during an offensive flurry by the Canes that ended with Martinook scoring his first of the game with 37.9 seconds left in the period. Luongo extended his left pad to make a stop on a Lucas Wallmark shot but could not push across to stop Martinook on the rebound.

Luongo, who suffered a knee injury in the Panthers’ season opener, was helped up and skated to the locker room and replaced by James Reimer.

Martinook’s first-period score stood up as the only goal in the first 40 minutes. It again came from some hustling work by his line, which Brind’Amour said has perhaps been the team’s most consistent this season, although not always producing points.

Wallmark and Andrei Svechnikov both were credited with assists and defenseman Haydn Fleury -- later injured in the third period -- also played a hand in the score.

“It’s just what we do,” Martinook said. “Go out, work hard, forecheck. The last five or six games, you could see us coming. It’s nice to get rewarded and get some pucks in the back of the net.”

Martinook’s second goal, at 7:31 of the third, came after Svechnikov swiped the puck in the defensive zone. Wallmark got off a shot on the rush, had it blocked, collected it and passed to Martinook between the circles for the shot and a 2-0 lead.

Sixty-one seconds later, it was 3-0. Teravainen, who had passed up an open shot in the final seconds of the second period, ripped a shot past Reimer on the power play.

Martinook, acquired in May from the Arizona Coyotes, had hats flying with an empty netter in the final moments of regulation. He said it was his first hat trick since junior hockey, noting his overjoyed father probably hit his head on the basement ceiling watching the game .

Wallmark finished with a career-high three assists and Svechnikov, improving each game, had two.

McElhinney and Reimer each made some sparkling glove saves in the second period -- McElhinney on a Nick Bjugstad shot from the slot during a Panthers power play. Reimer flashed the glove on a Justin Faulk shot on a Canes power play.

The Canes smacked the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Wednesday with McElhinney in net against the team that placed him on waivers in early October. The Canes had a lot of jump in that up-and-down-the-ice kind of game between two speedy teams, but Friday’s game was more of a tight-checking grind.

The Panthers were ending a six-game road trip and coming off a 7-3 loss at Tampa Bay. Mike Hoffman’s 17-game point streak, a franchise record and the longest in the NHL this season, came to an end.

This story was originally published November 23, 2018 at 10:11 PM.