Shawn Matthias and the Florida Panthers were able to visit the Carolina Hurricanes and come away with the 3-1 victory on Tuesday. The night ended on a bad note for Kirk Muller, tonight being his first game as coach for the Hurricanes since the firing of Paul Maurice hours before hiring Muller.

Matthias was the star of the night, getting two goals for the Panthers late in the game that got the team the victory. Panther’s goalkeeper Jose Theodore also kept his team in the game, only allowing one goal on 27 shots on goal.

The Hurricanes were able to outshoot their opponent by the end of the game, but were unable to capitalize on any of the good attempts they had. Carolina center Jeff Skinner scored the only goal for his team, while goalkeeper Cam Ward made only 18 saves.

”If I’m (a) player with a new coach, I’m going to come out with a ton of jump, and they did,” Florida coach Kevin Dineen said in an interview with FoxSports. ”That one was not our finest effort. It wasn’t our worst effort. It was one of those games where you find a way and we found a way tonight.”

After an uneventful first period, the Panthers were the first to score with a little under 11 minutes left in the second period thanks to a power-play goal scored off a slap-shot from Tomas Fleischmann. The Panthers were able to tie the game up a minute later off a shot from Jeff Skinner, making it ten goals for him this season.

Both teams were on the attack going into the third period, but the Panthers were the only ones that were able to capitalize on their chances. Shawn Matthias scored the go-ahead goal off a pass from Tomas Kopecky with a little more than three minutes left in the game. Matthias struck again in the final minute of the game, scoring his second goal of the night and securing the Panther’s 3-1 victory.

The Florida Panthers travel to California to face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, while the Carolina Hurricanes stay at home to welcome the New York Rangers the same night.

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