Putting up nine goals to secure its largest margin of victory this season, including a hat trick from left wing Nikolaj Ehlers, the Hurricanes pounded the Panthers.

Meeting for the third time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes (29-15-4) hosted the Florida Panthers (24-19-3) at Lenovo Center, having lost the first two after holding multi-goal leads in both games. It’s always a spectacle when these two teams meet — this night being no different.

“The goals kept coming because we were doing the right thing,” Ehlers said.

Following a scoreless first 19 minutes, Carolina got the puck past Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky when captain Jordan Staal passed the puck in front of the Panthers’ net to have Ehlers sweep in and put the Canes on the board.

As the second period rolled around, the tables seemed to flip as Florida scored one minute in. The Panthers took advantage of the substitution on the Canes’ side as they flew down the ice to overwhelm goaltender Brandon Bussi. As players crowded around him, right wing Mackie Samoskevich and left wing Sandis Vilmanis helped assist the goal that defensemen Uvis Balinskis scored, tying the board.

Left wing Mark Jankowski responded, wrapping the puck around Bobrovsky — with help from defensemen Alexander Nikishin and Mike Reilly — to take back the lead. Four minutes later, Nikishin furthered the lead, but this time, he was the goalscorer. During a Canes power play, Nikishin shot the puck from the right side of the net, cruising past three Panthers players to bring the score up to 3-1.

“We always work together and just stick to each other and played a physical night tonight,” said Nikishin. “If you had an opportunity, we would score.”

It’s not often that calls are made after the period, but this game was like no other. As the final seconds of the middle frame expired, Canes defenseman Jalen Chatfield got into it with Panthers center Sam Bennett, and it escalated quickly. Two-minute penalties were given to each team, as well as a 10-minute misconduct penalty to Bennett to wrap up the second period.

The agitated energy seemed to transfer into the early parts of the third period when left wing Jordan Martinook took a stick to the face two minutes in.

Two minutes later, Carolina scored its second power-play goal of the night. Right wing goalscorer Andrei Svechnikov, with centers Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho, fell into a triangular formation to the right of the goal, tactically sending the puck into the net and securing a comfortable 4-1 lead.

Halfway through the final period, tempers reignited. Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen attempted to cut into the Canes’ lead but was denied by Bussi. Frustrated, he skated into Bussi, who then grabbed Luostarinen’s stick. Luostarinen yanked Bussi’s stick out of his hand and threw it behind him with enough force to knock Bussi off his skates.

Their altercation was ended quickly by the referees, but as everyone on the ice returned to their places, Lenovo Center was overtaken by chants of Bussi’s name.

Creating a pattern for the night, repeat actor Ehlers scored his second goal during a Carolina power play. Eleven minutes into the third period, with only three Panthers’ players on the ice, Ehlers rocketed the puck from the right side of the net to make the score 5-1 with help from Jarvis and Svechnikov.

Completing his sixth-career hat trick and his first donning the red-and-white, Ehlers scored another goal 13 minutes into the final period to further extend Carolina’s lead to 7-1. Center Logan Stankoven and right wing Jackson Blake pickpocketed the puck from Florida and sent it down to Ehlers, who was met by a flurry of hats from the Hurricanes’ faithful after scoring.

Left wing Taylor Hall tallied two goals of his own as the other multi-goal scorer of the night. Left wing Eric Robinson scored the final goal of the night, capping off a dominant 9-1 win for the Canes.

The Hurricanes will travel to New Jersey to face the Devils tonight at 7:00 p.m.