Being the defending champions is hard because you know everyone is coming for your crown. Midway through the 2006-07 campaign, the Carolina Hurricanes were doing everything they could to remain at the top of the mountain. Heading into their meeting with the Florida Panthers on January 11, 2007, they were in a decent spot. The Canes were second in the Southeast Division and firmly in the Top 8 for a playoff spot.
Life wasn't as fun for the Panthers. Sitting in the cellar of the division, they visited Raleigh on that Thursday night trying to give the champs a run for their money. For most of the first two periods, that's exactly what they did. Despite a scoreless first, Florida outshot Carolina 12-6, and it would only get worse in the second period.
During the middle frame, the Panthers finally solved Cam Ward. Florida struck twice in 50 seconds beyond the halfway point in the contest, as Juraj Kolnik and Olli Jokinen found some daylight. Late in the frame, Stephen Weiss found room between Ward's pads with his rebound chance to put the Canes in a 3-0 hole. Florida held a 31-14 shot advantage with the home team in deep trouble.
Words must have been exchanged in the Canes' locker room during the second intermission because they were locked and loaded once the third period began. The catalyst was a weird one from Chad LaRose. His shot hit a few Florida sticks before fluttering over Alex Auld and into the net to get the Canes on the board.
From there, the Canes opened the floodgates. Erik Cole buried a breakaway less than two minutes later. Scott Walker's wrap-around had the Canes even just over eight minutes into the period. Cory Stillman redirected a beautiful pass from Andrew Hutchinson on the power play as he crashed the net to put the Canes ahead before the ten-minute mark. Craig Adams added a rebound goal 27 seconds later for good measure.
Jokinen scored his second goal of the night with the Cats on the power play to make it 5-4 with less than a minute remaining, but Ray Whitney would put the final goal into the empty net to cement a 6-4 victory for the Hurricanes. Rod Brind'Amour finished the night with three assists, while five other Hurricanes recorded multi-point games. John Grahame, who relieved Ward after the second period, stopped six of the seven shots he faced in the third period to record the victory.
The six goals in the third period marked the most goals in a single period in Hurricanes history. It has been done twice since, by the 2008-09 team in a 9-3 victory against the Lightning that included the only four-goal game in team history and by the 2016-17 team in an 8-6 victory against the Canucks. The five unanswered goals to begin the third were also the five fastest goals in team history (8:22), surpassing the record set by the 2005-06 team by seven seconds.
The Carolina Hurricanes didn't get a chance to defend their title in the postseason in 2007. They fell four points short of the playoffs after hitting a rough patch beginning in late January. The Panthers showed some improvement as the season went along, finishing just two points behind the Hurricanes in the final standings.