Finishing strong with their heads held high, the Panthers wrapped up their season on a three-game winning streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nice to have a win like that for our fans,\u201d head coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cWe had a bit of a tough year here. There\u2019s nothing on the line. I know people talk about tanking, but we\u2019re not doing any of that. Those guys came out and played their butts off.\u201d<\/p>\n
THEY SAID IT<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of great hockey teams in this league. It doesn\u2019t matter what you\u2019ve done. Everything goes back to zero. Everything goes back to zero at playoff time. Everything goes back to zero at the start of the regular season. Just because you\u2019ve won two [Stanley Cups] doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re Sharpied into the playoffs.\u201d \u2013 Matthew Tkachuk<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just went out there and enjoyed the last game. It\u2019s such a special group in here. Of course, a lot of good friends of mine in here. We just went out there and had fun.\u201d \u2013 Ludvig Jansson<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no nerves on the line. Everyone was just loose out there and not thinking. It was just playing to our strengths. There was nothing to lose, so it was just going out there and having fun.\u201d \u2013 Mike Benning<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the culture that we see in here that we\u2019re trying to build in Charlotte, too. So many guys from Charlotte here. We\u2019re just trying to bring what we have and do the things that those guys do when we\u2019re watching them.\u201d \u2013 Mikulas Hovorka<\/p>\n
CATS STATS<\/p>\n
– The Panthers have won 40 games for the 10th time in franchise history.<\/p>\n
– Mike Benning is the first rookie defenseman to score multiple goals in a period for the Panthers.<\/p>\n
– The Panthers had three rookies notch multiple points in a game for the first time in franchise history.<\/p>\n
– Matthew Tkachuk recorded his 48th multi-assist game as a Panther, the third most in franchise history.<\/p>\n
– The Panthers scored eight-plus goals in a game for the third time this season.<\/p>\n
– Luke Kunin posted the eighth multi-goal game of his career.<\/p>\n
– A.J. Greer finished the season with a career-high 17 goals.<\/p>\n
– Fifteen different Panthers registered at least one point, with six posting multiple points.<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S NEXT?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a wrap!<\/p>\n