After mounting comebacks in their previous two games, the Carolina Hurricanes looked to be on track for another third-period spectacular after they fell down 3-1 in the first period and then tied it at three before the third. The Florida Panthers — the reigning Stanley Cup champions — had other ideas, scoring three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes to claim a hard-earned two points.

Costly turnovers on both ends of the ice coupled with a trio of soft goals doomed the Canes in the last period. Up and down the lineup seemed to be off, but head coach Rod Brind’Amour doesn’t think goaltender Spencer Martin is to blame for the six next to the Panthers on the scoreboard.

“I don’t blame [Martin] for this game,” Brind’Amour said. “We didn’t come [with] what we needed to beat that team. Our top guys got to be top when you’re playing those guys and we can’t manage the puck like we did early, that was rough.”

The Panthers took less than three minutes to take the lead on a backhand shot from center Jesper Boqvist. Finding a pocket of space, Boqvist from beyond the faceoff circle fired a hopeful backhanded shot that beat Martin low to the blocker side.

Boqvist’s goal was the first of three goals that Martin gave up from past the faceoff circles, all three the netminder would like to have back. With both of their starting goalies out to injury, the Canes have had to rely on Martin to keep the ship afloat but it’s been the team’s goalscoring that has been patching the holes.

Coming into tonight’s game, the Canes were one of four teams to average more than four goals per game on home ice. But when Florida was able to shut that down, Martin’s flaws were at the forefront.

“I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be tonight,” Martin said.

It wasn’t all negative out of the gate for the Canes. Responding quickly to the Panthers’ opening goal, center Sebastian Aho sprung center Seth Jarvis with a stretch pass. Jarvis then capitalized on his opportunity to beat Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky with an elevated backhand. Jarvis’ power play goal marks the fifth straight game the team has scored on the man advantage.

Like champions do, the Panthers responded to Jarvis’ highlight goal with two of their own two minutes apart from each other.

In an attempt to clear the zone, defenseman Brent Burns blindly turned and fired the puck up along the boards but Panthers center Aleksander Barkov read the play and intercepted the puck. Barkov promptly fed the league’s leading goal scorer in center Sam Reinhart who did what he does and fired a shot past Martin from the slot.

There wasn’t much Martin could do then, but on center Carter Verhaeghe’s follow-up goal, Canes fans were left shaking their heads. Dangling from center ice and into the offensive zone, Verhaeghe fired the team’s fifth shot and scored the team’s third goal. It was a well-placed shot but with no other scoring threats in play, it seemed Martin could have done more to make that save.

The Canes responded well in the second, scoring two goals to tie the game at three apiece. A shot from the point by defenseman Sean Walker beat Bobrovsky above his glove and off the post for his 100th career NHL point. Then at the end of the period, left wing Eric Robinson got a tip on another shot from the point by defenseman Jalen Chatfield, giving Bobrovsky no chance on the play.

Normally a great third-period team, the Canes struggled to generate any offensive opportunities in the third. The Panthers clogged up the neutral zone and made it difficult for the Canes to establish clean zone entries or sustain offensive pressure.

As a result, it was the Panthers who dealt two brutal blows to Carolina before the period was halfway done. Five minutes in, Martin gave up another soft goal that left Brind’Amour shaking his head but the real killer came on the Hurricanes’ power play.

After already converting on a power play opportunity in the first, the Canes had put themselves in a position to get the tying goal, but instead, an offensive zone turnover sent the Panthers rushing the other way.

Center Anton Lundell was the beneficiary of a perfectly executed rebound-pass play set up by center Eetu Luostarinen. With Burns neither defending the shot nor the pass, Luostarinen fired a shot off Martin’s pad that deflected right to Lundell who buried it on an open net.

“We look at a lot of those plays in video… and we try to limit those as much as we can,” said center Jordan Staal. “Tonight they made us pay on pretty much every one of those.”

Center Sam Bennett iced the game with the goalie pulled but the Hurricanes have to put this one behind him. The team has a short turnaround time as they play the Panthers again tomorrow in Sunrise, Florida.

“We’ve come back in the last few games and everyone gets all excited about it but it isn’t the recipe for success,” Staal said. “Against a much better team they’re going to lock down, we can’t start like that.”

With goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov being labeled as doubtful by Brind’Amour, it’s more than likely the team will have to send out Martin again against the team that hung five on him today. Back-to-back against the same team isn’t ideal but gives the team a good chance to get some points back from tonight.

Puck drop against Florida is scheduled for 4 p.m.